NZ Musician April/May 2015

VO L . 18

NO.9

A p r i l / M a y 2015

ILLS K N MOO

FREE

Jamie McDell Marlon Williams STRANGE HARVEST HEAD LIKE A HOLE MISS JUNE THE JURY AND THE SAINTS QUAIL STATE MEL PARSONS TAINTED MANALION

Brands & Distributors Directory 2015

NZ MUSICIAN magazine PO Box 99-315, Newmarket 1149 Auckland New Zealand Phone: (09) 373 2572 Fax: (09) 303 3349 editorial@nzmusician.co.nz

www.nzmusician.co.nz Publisher / Editor: Richard Thorne richard@nzmusician.co.nz

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Assistant Editors: Silke Hartung Carl McWilliams editorial@nzmusician.co.nz Advertising: Carl McWilliams Website Contact: web@nzmusician.co.nz Designer: Silke Hartung Pre-Press & Printing: MHP Print

Contributors Mark Bell, David McLaughlin, Darryl Kirk, David Chechelashvili, Jamie McCaskill, Briar Lawry, Tim Hewitt, Chloe Cairncross, Kevin Downing, Eddie Dawn-McCurdy, Matt Herrett, Trevor Reekie, Amanda Mills, Rob Burns, Mohamed Hassan, Jeni Little, Ricardo Ball, Stephen McTaggart, Finn McLennan-Elliott, Stu Edwards, Ania Glowacz, Sammy Jay Dawson, Greta Yeoman, Aleisha Ward, Jesse Austin, Colin Selby, Bing Turkby, Huia Hamon, Lis Tagaloa, Tim Gruar, Chris Dent, Wade Donk, David Parker, Thomas Goss, Michael Hollywood, Matt Pula

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Brands & Distributors Directory 2015 p27-33

REGULARS

FEATURES

LESSONS

Jamie McDell . . . . . . . . .

2

The Lawful Truth. . . . . .

7

Guitar Cool . . . . . . . . . .

15

Tainted . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

8

Tutors’ Tutorial . . . . . . .

10

Deep Thinking. . . . . . . .

24

The Jury And The Saints

16

Fresh Talent. . . . . . . . . .

12

Strange Harvest . . . . . . .

22

Moments Like These. . .

20

NZ Musician magazine is published six times a year.

Fresh Cut . . . . . . . . . . .

40

ManaLion . . . . . . . . . . . .

26

Out On The Street . . . . .

46

Available direct by subscription and free through selected outlets.

Marlon Williams . . . . . . .

34

Ex-Pat Files. . . . . . . . . .

48

Quail State . . . . . . . . . . .

45

Building Blocks . . . . . . .

52

Mel Parsons . . . . . . . . . .

50

On Foreign Soil . . . . . . .

58

Miss June. . . . . . . . . . . .

53

Head Like A Hole . . . . . .

54

For advertising or subscription enquiries please contact: editorial@nzmusician.co.nz or phone (09) 373 2572

COVER

Jamie McDell & Marlon Williams

Contents and design remain the property of

Photographs by Nicky Birch & Justyn Strother

REVIEWS GUITARS: Fishman Fluence Electric Guitar Pickups . . . . . . .

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I remember way back in the day Where we used to play I remember when we used to shuffle our feet How we would holla and dance We’d like to move to the beat Have everyone in a trance I remember way back in the day.

– Back In The Day, ManaLion p26

New Zealand Musician.

All rights reserved.

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Jamie McDell

surfy?

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’m just young and dumb’ sings Jamie McDell in the third song of her very good sophomore album. Young? Yes. Dumb? No. Don’t buy it.

It’s about as close as the winsome 22-year young singer/songwriter gets to being disingenuous, personal honesty and integrity being high on her values chart.

She talks freely and volubly, frequently prefacing her answers with “To be honest…” – unnecessarily, you soon get the feeling, because Jamie doesn’t really do guile. A natural honesty shows in her confident, direct manner, her unfussy dress and absence of make-up, her social media postings, videos, song lyrics and even in the title she has given her new album, ’Ask Me Anything’. It’s also implicit in her chosen musical genre – while known as a successful pop artist it is country-pop – and it’s the country part that has her heart.

“I hope that in the future I can cross over to the country side more, and that might not be something I can do here in NZ. That’s like a real dream that I will fulfil, no matter if it is successful or not. Being in a situation where the real storytelling and musicianship is the thing, and being able to sing live is the only way you get anywhere. That side of it interests me, and is something I’d love to try.”

Five Years From Now is rather more direct. ’I’ve seen punk and pop and indie – all it means is that the generations can’t come to agree. But I know I won’t be bothered by that scene, as long as country brings me back to 17. But it’s all they know…’

“That’s one of my favourites on the album.

The songs I write by myself take about half an hour at the most, so it’s definitely a word vomit. My manager asked me what I wanted to be doing five years from now – and I just replied, ’It’s a ridiculous question’!”

Even while the NZ public was still catching new singles off her gold-selling 2012 debut album, her record company were sending their new golden girl off on trans-Tasman co-writing excursions. Still new to the game then, Jamie admits to being a bit miffed by the directive.

“That was a real personal challenge, being put into co-writing with people. At the beginning I took quite a lot of offence to that suggestion and found it so strange that I would have to go and sit in a room with someone else and write songs! But I had to take the opportunity and realise that people weren’t trying to ruin my life. I definitely understood it was more about pushing my own music in ways that I wasn’t used to,

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Photos: Nicky Birch

A carefree surfer chick out of Mangawhai, her debut album was knocked up with the aid of the York Street Studio house band and released when she was just 19. It might have gone unnoticed were it not so Kiwi beach-life catchy, but ’Six Strings & A Sailboat’ went on to win the NZ Music Award for Best Pop Album in 2013. Now Jamie McDell is back with her second – armed with a degree and the benefits of added maturity, buoyed by the confidence of songwriting success, still aided by members of that original studio band and now backed by a legion-like fan base. A busy manager of her social media profile and active public ambassador for Surf Live Saving NZ, Jamie talked with Richard Thorne about the making, and up-for-it naming, of ’Ask Me Anything’.

Yes! Dumb? No! rather than cutting into my brain, which I felt like initially.”

While the co-write sessions didn’t produce many songs (“We’d write them but they weren’t songs I believed in,” she notes), they did eventually lead her to Aussie-based ex-pat Scotsman Stuart Crichton, who ended up producing ’Ask Me Anything’.

Crichton established his credentials with the early ’90s progressive house sound, and has worked since as writer/producer with a number of pop artists including Selena Gomez, Westlifer Brian McFadden and Aussie superstars Kylie Minogue and Delta Goodrem. (He’s also behind the soon-to-be released new Gin album.) Jamie admits being nervous about working with him initially for just that reason.

“As much as I’m a pop artist, I do enjoy working with people who maybe have more of a rootsy background. But I was really lucky to have him, he was just a perfect part of the puzzle for me. He is a songwriter too, but would never interfere with the lyrical content, he always made sure the story was mine.

“Stuart’s strength is that he is a fantastic musician and producer, so he could do all this cool layering that I don’t know how to do. I feel like we worked together more on a writer/producer level, which I really enjoyed, and he turned out to have more belief in my songwriting than most people I’ve worked with before.”

For the last three years Jamie has been studying for a degree in graphic design at AUT in Auckland, and her new album was worked on between semesters in two-week stints in McFadden’s Sydney home studio. She laughs that she also became best friends with his wife and his dog.

“I write everything on the guitar and it’s hard to send in a song I’ve played on the acoustic to a record label, because some people can’t hear what it might turn out to be. So I did demo some songs with my existing band and sent them over to Stewart, and he sometimes would choose to keep Scottie’s drum track or some of Huia’s guitar or something. So he was appreciative of where I’d come from with my first album and who I love to work with. He’s a great guy.”

Alongside McFadden’s input are a couple of other notable collaborations, including Rai Thistlethwayte, lead singer of Aussie pop rockers Thirsty Merc.

“That was cool ’cos I’m a huge Thirsty Merc fan,” she grins. “Stewart just knew Rai as a mate, and we initially wanted him to do a piano part on Luck, which is the last song on the album.

When he came in I was gushing about being such a big fan and eventually we decided to write something – we had been playing with a few ideas in the hope he might. Rai is a crazy

multi-instrumentalist and that was a really quite a cool experience for me.”

After all the emphasis on collaborative composition, 11 of the album’s 13 songs are Jamie’s own. She wrote the emotive sleepy album closer Luck in Melbourne with Jebediah frontman Kevin Mitchell (aka Bob Evans).

“He was interesting for me. A lot of writers I had met would say things like, ’Radio’s gonna love this’, and I didn’t really like that! It didn’t make me feel that involved, whereas Kevin was quite quiet and very about the feeling. He offered some chords he’d had for years and that’s how we wrote Luck in the end. To be on a professional level with a musician like him, and come out with something like that was pretty special. And Rai added some piano which is cool!

“With my first album I was given York St with five musicians, and I could ask them to do whatever wanted. Not having to work everything from the ground up was quite different. I did have to often let Stuart know that I did want musicians to come in and work on the songs, which luckily did end up happening. I like working with musicians who know more about music than me!”

After a final couple of weeks together refining the mixes, the album was finished by early March last year. Aside from the whole process of album creation being very different to her first album, Jamie struggles to identify other major contrasts, saying that although three years older, she herself doesn’t feel that different, and hears little change in her music.

left me alone in the studio.

“I guess with a bit of success and working with a new team on this album there’s been a lot of different opinions thrown in. I found that a real challenge to be honest. But it means I’m confident coming into this, because I have had to stand up for myself – whereas before I was just being me,” she laughs, feigning a girlish voice.

“I find it hard to explain [why] myself, but I think what happens is that marketing teams (for instance) are always looking for new ways to get stories across and things like that.

“The problem with me,” she laughs again, “is that I will never try to be cool, and I think that’s where we have a clash. My music just isn’t going to lend itself to that, because it has a certain style and structure, and I don’t really care. I don’t like following those types of things because they don’t really last, but obviously if you are in marketing you are trying to make sure things are current.

“For me, my fanbase like that I’m kind of an average Joe, I guess, so that made more work for them. But that conflict isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it pushed me to be a bit more innovative in what I was doing. And at the same time it’s not a bad thing to be fighting for yourself.”

The year-long delay between album completion and release would challenge most artists, though it did allow her to complete her AUT studies. Jamie says they had a few earlier release dates that didn’t feel like the right time – like winter, which is definitely not her favourite time of the year.

“I did get worried that the album would be too eclectic, because there is quite a range of feelings on there. But that’s how I tell stories and all parts of my life are very different.”

The one other major difference seems to be in how her record company, Universal NZ, have been more actively involved.

“The core values are there – the songs are stories of my lifetime, or people around me, and have all come from a sort of pop/country influence. Like probably most people, with the first record you are picking from your whole lifetime songwriting, and for me it was such a natural process. I had probably the most ideal situation that you could see with someone on a record label, in that they didn’t really talk to me about it at all. They let me choose the songs and

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“We finally figured let’s go for it, and that took a bit of pushing from me. I know it is hard for some people to understand where I’m coming from, from a professional point of view, and so it took a while to convince them that I believe in this stuff.”

She has, by now, learnt a lot more about the machinations of the music industry and seems happy enough with the way things have panned out.

“You are going to go through that in all senses of the industry – someone has to make the call. It’s not a question of radio play, I’m

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lucky in that I find structured pop songs with hooks are natural for me to write. I think the struggle was more around my image, which was weird for me – with people in marketing wanting to do something a little bit different than before. I find that hard because I am continuously communicating with my fans everyday, and I feel that I have a good idea of what they respond to – and that stretches not far outside of what I am. So when it comes to those conversations I am always quite strong in pushing for a natural image.

be too eclectic, because there is quite a range of feelings on there. But that’s how I tell stories and all parts of my life are very different. That’s why the album ended up with its title – because every side of me is on there. I didn’t want to pick one song as the title because sometimes it makes people think that song represents the entire album, which is not the case with any of them.”

In keeping with her very real surfer girl image, Jamie has to think about any goals set with this album.

“I didn’t really have a goal for the last album

“I did work quite hard from the beginning to make sure that my image was what I was doing every day, and I wasn’t too interested in compromising that.” “’You need to dress a bit more cool…’ I get that’s all part of it, but I did work quite hard from the beginning to make sure that my image was what I was doing every day anyways, and that was really effective, so I wasn’t too interested in compromising that.”

She’s happy her image has changed naturally, just from the maturity that comes with growing older. Likewise her ’sound’, which she contends hasn’t changed, other than with the input of a different producer.

“It’s still music that relies on that basic acoustic guitar track that is then built up. It’s still coming from the girl with a guitar. Writing is just something I do all the time. I know a second album is a struggle for a lot of people because you are choosing from maybe just two years of material, but being 18 years old and releasing an album and having some sort of platform gave me a lot of inspiration, and I have tried to make sure that I remain quite prolific, so that challenge wasn’t there.

Heard alongside ’Six Strings & A Sailboat’, which sold well enough to be badged gold, ’Ask Me Anything’ impresses with its breadth, Jamie comfortably slipping between a range of emotions and musical backdrops, the calypso steel drums of My Old Hands for instance.

“It might help you to know that one of my biggest [fave] artists, and one I have listened to my whole life is Jimmy Buffett. To be honest, that’s where I get really comfortable in using those sounds. In an ideal world I’d try to make myself a female Jimmy Buffett! It’s almost like I am fulfilling a childhood dream with those kinds of things – wanting to sound a little bit like him. It’s really weird but I do get really excited about those things!”

Actually it’s not the first (or last) time that the American ’gulf and western’ singer/ songwriter and sailor gets a big mention in our hour-long chat, and Jamie giggles at her own admitted foibles.

“I did get worried that the album would EV\Z )

and I can’t say I do for this one… Really what will be important for me will be being able to put on a tour and play live shows that are really awesome, and I think a lot of the songs on this record will help me do that, just because there is a little bit more drive and dynamic that can be put in a show.”

Her 2012 album drew various comments to the effect of Jamie McDell being our Taylor Swift, a comparison she enjoyed since Swift is known for being a prolific songwriter.

“But not if it was just because I am blonde and play the acoustic guitar!” she laughs, eyes rolling.

Talk of Swift inevitably brings her famous local bestie to mind, and with that the question of the Lorde-effect c r e a t i n g expectations on other y o u n g K i w i female

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artists like her?

“I think (luckily) probably not in terms of people’s expectations of me, just because of the genre difference. But I feel certainly like, I’m not sure if it’s an excitement or anxious, knowing that it’s actually a possibility for something like that to happen. I am quite excited for the younger generation to grow up in a world where a NZ artist can get a Grammy and be #1 on the Billboard chart.

“I try not to let it affect any decisions I make, you have to focus on your own thing.

The place for me is not that direction – in my dream of dreams I’d be playing country music in Nashville, so that’s where it probably didn’t cross over to my goals.”

The appeal of experiencing America’s home of country music is evidently very real, but as Jamie explains it’s not about being around the stars and star-making machinery.

“For me it’s about being in a place like I was with my first album, where I would meet musicians who have been playing guitar, or drums, for years and years and years, and could really show me something about music in its natural form and structure. And being in a place that really appreciates that side.

“I know that in NZ there is a certain pop crossover that needs to happen with my music to make it work. I know this, but I would really love to experience a place where that wasn’t the case.” >"39,SSLY3SOd "OJ9 3 9MM >>J3J"M

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by Mark Bell

Fishman Fluence Multi-Voice Electric Guitar Pickups I

t’s strange to think that electric guitars, and more specifically here their pickups, still largely adhere to a design principal that has remained fundamentally unchanged since its inception in 1934. Copper wire is wrapped around a magnet with individual pole pieces, which convert string vibrations into an electromagnetic signal and voila – never again would the humble guitar have to fight to be heard above the din of acoustically more strident instruments like drums, piano and brass.

However resistant many purists may be to the winds of change, there will always be clever buggers beavering away down in the lab, if not exactly re-inventing the wheel, at least trying to drag it into the 21st century. And that is exactly what renowned acoustic pickup

producers Fishman have done with their new range of active electric guitar pickups.

The Fluence range, which currently includes single width Strat, Classic Humbucker and Modern Humbucker models in black, white or nickel finishes (rrp $350 for a set of three), is based on modern circuit printing technology by which wire coils are ’printed’ onto a circuit board in a way that is much more exact and controllable than a winding technique. This printing process

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is repeated and stacked 48 times on top of a spacer, with a further 48 layers mirrored underneath, with the coil direction perfectly reversed to prevent any hum or noise.

The single coil versions as supplied for this review on a relatively inexpensive SX Strat copy use Alnico IV rod magnets and a battery-powered preamp to boost certain frequencies and attenuate others in order to arrive at the desired voicing for each model of pickup. This pre-amp also allows Fishman the rather cool option of storing two completely different frequency settings for each pickup, which can be used as

either a set-and-forget option, or wired to either a push-pull tone or volume knob, or to a separate two-way selector switch. In the review model’s case this means a choice of either Vintage Single Coil or the Hot Texas Single Coil a la Stevie Ray Vaughan, which has a bit more grit and girth in the mid range and perhaps a touch more output.

The pre-amp of course requires a power source, and Fishman have brought their considerable skill and innovation to bear on this aspect in developing their own

lithium ion battery system (not included, rrp $160), which can either slot into the Strat backplate or fit under the pick guard, offering up to 250 hours of play time.

Not only does that put your rather expensive high-end 9-volt battery to shame, but also you can recharge in around two hours by plugging in a mini USB cable to a wall socket or computer. You can, if you prefer, simply run the pickups on a standard 9-volt battery.

As luck would have it I had a good opportunity to try out the

Fluence-rigged Strat at a good-sized outdoor gig a couple of days after picking it up – the annual Big Nui gig at Wainui School. For a school fundraiser it has very high production values, a large stage, some impressive talent and a beautiful bush-clad setting, so I welcomed the opportunity to crank up my Mesa Boogie Stiletto and see what the Fluence pickups could deliver.

I opted to use the review guitar for a dropped-D song rather than the whole set, as I hadn’t spent much time with it. My immediate impression was that these pickups deliver great clarity and precision, and that while they are voiced for authentic Stratocaster tone, it seems like that tone has been somehow distilled and

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concentrated, like a single malt scotch.

Original Strat pickups have oodles of personality but do vary from one guitar to the next.They’re occasionally a little unevensounding and they’re undeniably noisy in certain situations, particularly where stage lights are in play. There was none of that here, not a hint of noise, just beautiful undiluted tone.

Rolling back the volume had no effect on the higher frequencies, as is often the case with single coil pickups, while the active system enables you to run long cables without capacitance having an effect on the high-end frequencies.

Having a more leisurely workout with the guitar at home I checked out the Hot Texas voicing and was very impressed with the extra tonal possibilities this great feature introduces to the mix. I set the pickup selector to ’neck’ and dropped into a few bars of Cold Shot and there it was – the spirit of the master Texas bluesman was filling the room!

In summary, Fishman are a company who set the innovation bar extremely high, and strive to live up their own great reputation with any new products. They don’t seek to dazzle with banks of LEDs, dials and switches – every feature on a Fishman product seems thoroughly researched and developed, built to last and there because it makes the device sound better or more intuitive to use. All of which certainly applies to the Fluence range of pickups.

UIF MBXGVM USVUI with David McLaughlin

Synchronisation Agreements – Part 1

T

he modern music industry has never been in more of a state of flux than it is right now. Over the last decade there has been a dramatic shift in the revenue sources that are driving the industry. Although sales of recorded music (including via digital sales and more recently streaming services) of course remain the bedrock of music industry income, the percentage that these make of total revenues, alongside other sources such as live performance and merchandise, has declined.

Consequently it’s never been more important for you to think about the other ways you can get paid for the music you produce.

A very good example of this is the synchronisation of music. All that synchronisation really means is ’music with pictures’ or the syncing of music to some kind of image. In other words we are talking about music used in film, TV, video games and any other medium you can think of where music provides background to what is being presented in the visuals up front.

For the purposes of this article we’re going to focus on the use of music in film and TV, as these uses are by far the most common. However, it should be mentioned that increasingly today the ever growing local video game industry is proving to hold more and more opportunities for new and established artists to contribute music.

We’re going to be dealing specifically with the use of featured music such as a single song used at some point in an advert, TV show or film. This is different from the atmospheric and mood-building music which may be written to run throughout a film or TV show, like the very grand orchestra music playing in the climax sequences of a Hollywood blockbuster.

Where any music is used in film or TV there are a number of legal issues that have to be dealt with in a Synchronisation Agreement.

Most importantly approval must be obtained from all the owners of the music in question.

Firstly this means ALL the songwriters. If the music being used is also not a new, specifically created recording of the song, but rather an already existing recording, then as well as permission of the songwriters, separate permission will also be needed from the owner of this recording. If the song was recorded for a record label then the label will generally be the owner of the recording.

Because of these two very different sets of rights involved it is common to see a separate Synchronisation Agreement with first the songwriters and then the record company that owns the recording. However, if your band writes all of its own songs and owns all of its own recordings, then there is no reason why everything can’t be dealt with in the same agreement.

After dealing with the issue of ownership one of the next most important issues to consider in a Synchronisation Agreement is what exactly are you allowing your song to be used for?

There are a few different aspects to this.

Firstly, make sure it is defined what movie or TV show your song is to be used in. After all you may be happy for your song to be used in a powerful, uplifting drama which you have been specifically provided some good background information on, but you may not be so keen for it to be used in just any other film the person acquiring the rights from you decides.

Secondly, is your song to form part of the general soundtrack in the movie? In other words

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will it be used in the same way as a number of other songs throughout the movie at different points, or is your song to be featured in a much more prominent way? It might perhaps be the theme song for the movie, or perhaps the song that is used to highlight the romantic interest between two characters throughout the film or TV show?

Issues like this can definitely influence the price that should be paid for the use of the song so it’s important these are defined in the Synchronisation Agreement.

In terms of the use of your song the other big issue to have clarified is the extent to which the TV show or film will be distributed.

Although generally films will require worldwide rights to use the song, the rights required by TV shows may not necessarily be so extensive in every case. All of these factors will in theory affect the price that should be paid for the use of the song and may also affect how you feel about your song being used.

In the next issue of NZ Musician we’ll continue this discussion of the important legal issues to be aware of in Synchronisation Agreements, including looking at some of the more specific issues that arise when music is used in adverts.

David McLaughlin is a specialist music lawyer with Auckland law firm McLaughlin Law (www. mclaughlinlaw.co.nz). He can be contacted by email at david@mclaughlinlaw.co.nz or on 09 282 4599.

Disclaimer: This article is intended to provide a general outline of the law on the subject matter. Further professional advice should be sought before any action is taken in relation to the matters described in the article.

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Tainted

PLAYING METAL CATCH UP There may well be some kind of warning here about adopted band names attracting their literal meaning, but let’s hope not. Long regarded as one of the country’s premier metal bands, Christchurch’s Tainted have endured a tumultuous four years since the Canterbury earthquakes, the band striving to rebuild the momentum that was lost in those dark days after the February 2011 disaster. Personnel changes have been part of that process with only three of the five members remaining from the last time NZM caught up with Tainted, back in 2009. Six years on, but seemingly several steps back, the band got together with Darryl Kirk to discuss their upcoming third album ‘Into Temptation’.

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ainted’s new album is a high water mark for local metal releases and has been a labour of love for a band totally committed to their vision of recording no compromise music.

Produced by Clint Murphy (Shihad, 8 Foot Sativa, Devilskin among numerous others) at Christchurch’s Quicksand Studios, the touchstone here is death and thrash metal.

Their sound is an intense blend of the five personalities that make up the band. Slim (Campbell Jenkins) leads from the front on vocals. Tim Facoory and Linly Baxter do the heavy lifting on guitars, while Morgan Oliver and Liam Stevens are the engine room on drums and bass respectively.

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Tainted’s first two albums came out quick succession, but it has been over six years since ‘Carved and Created’ was released.

What have you been up to in-between, are there some side projects happening?

Earthquakes. We were peaking before that but when September and February earthquakes happened all bets were off, everything stopped dead for us. Each of us was in our own different worlds, finding places to live, family worries, losing jobs; it was a terrible time for all of us.

What are your usual haunts? Has a good scene returned in Christchurch by now?

The haunts have disappeared, it’s flat. The venues are history. There is no real local scene.

International bookings have mostly dried up,

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or only go to Auckland now. Until some places open and more people start going out, the scene is dead. It reminds us of old school days where we’d find an empty warehouse to play to people until noise control turned up and shut things down. The Christchurch earthquakes have damaged everything.

You had Clint Murphy producing as you did for ‘Carved and Created'. What discussions did you have about the sound you wanted to achieve in comparison with that album?

We didn’t want it to have the same feel as ‘Carved’, and that was one of the early conversations. We wanted it to be in a sense bigger. We also spoke to Clint about pursuing

different sonic elements, trying to push the boundaries. We sought to experiment with various tones with the guitars, bass and introduce new depth to our sound.

Did he bring some ideas you found useful?

Clint has an ear for textures and would pull out some interesting sound effects that are unusual for metal. It added a unique layer that guys just playing their instrument are less likely to come up with on their own. In one of the early discussions with Clint, he asked us to what degree we wanted him to push us and suggest things, or were we straight cut and these are the songs? He had some off-the-wall ideas, and we were receptive to those instead of being too precious about the songs.

How do you approach songwriting?

It’s a group thing, someone will bring a riff to the room, and we jam on it then we start throwing beats around it. We each dissect and then add it’s a real group process. The songs don't originate in the same place every time. A big buzz word for us is contrast; we didn't want to make this album like the last one it had to be a progression.

It’s all over the album, it sounds fantastic. I’ve retrofitted it to all the songs now.

Tim: It’s all about knowing your gear and how to use it. It’s a trade secret.

Linly: With Tim and I there are small variances in our set ups and that gives us an edge.

Morgan: Coffee, I can’t live without it. I often play live with other people’s gear, so my kick pedals from Chicago are essential as any drummer would tell you.

Regarding management, do you do it yourselves or do you have outside help?

We do it ourselves. We haven’t found anyone who has the same goals and aspirations as we have. We juggle the load between ourselves, depending on what we are up to at the time.

We also have a good network of promoters who have our backs.

How do you handle promotion of the band?

Promotion is difficult. Things have evolved with online forums, Facebook, all those things. It used to be posters and word of mouth. Up until September, the Axe Attack was an outlet for metal, but sadly appears to be on an indefinite hiatus. Previous avenues are getting whittled down. It is so much easier to get the word out in mainstream genres. With metal you have to reach out to individuals rather than the masses, so they are harder to reach. We need to be more inventive; that's part of our job.

Any plans to go overseas?

Yes. We need to stop giving New Zealand such a hard time and take it overseas.

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How many songs did you take into the studio?

There were 14 songs and everyone discussed which ones they wanted to go on the album.

They are like our babies, but in the end some had to be put down. Clint also had a lot of input on the song choices.

‘Into Temptation’ is a very complex record, what was the toughest part to get to tape?

The emotion. The emotional element is the hardest thing to try and capture. Listening to ‘Carved’ we have learned so much. It’s about hitting all those notes with the right intensity.

You’ve played with a lot of metal royalty.

Who was your favourite band to play with?

One of our favourites was Chimaira, those guys were rad. We were there at soundcheck.

They’re totally down to earth going around introducing themselves to everyone. At the Metallica show, Liam forgot to tape down his pedals, so we snuck out to do that. We heard this noise and looked around, and Lars was standing there – we kind of freaked and scuttled away.

After our second gig with Metallica, Lars came by to say hi and hang out. He was shaking hands and introducing himself we were like,‘We know who you are.’ He thanked us for doing it – we were shocked he was thanking us.

What gear do you love and rate as essential for your sound?

Slim: Live, for me it is wireless. Going from a cable mic to a wireless solved so many problems. I used to destroy the guys’ gear and trip them up and strangle the audience. I use a Shure wireless, it’s excellent.

Liam: For me, I have two pedals. I have a Sansamp V-Bass, which is the basis of my sound, but the big one is from Pepers’ Pedals in Dunedin. It’s a fuzz pedal called the Big Hefe.

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any musicians nowadays record and mix their own material. This has allowed for an explosion of new music on the landscape. Creatively, there is a great deal of diversity in musical styles and expression, which is great, but unfortunately, there is also a large variation in the quality of recordings. While it is true that generally the production quality of what DIY musicians create has increased dramatically in recent years (due to the availability and low cost of advanced technology), there is often less attention paid to the important final step in the traditional production process. I am referring to the practice of mastering.

In this article, I will attempt to outline some essentials of mastering that will hopefully apply to a wide range of musical styles and genres.The intention is not to be a comprehensive guide to mastering. We will, instead, focus on the basics of mastering to give a general understanding of the processes involved. It is important to note that we will be discussing mastering where the ultimate distribution format is a digital file such as .WAV or .AIF. In The Mastering Engineer’s Handbook, Bobby Owsinski defines mastering as ‘…the process of turning a collection of songs into a record by making them sound like they belong together in tone, volume, and timing (spacing between songs).’ Mastering can also be defined as the final process of alteration and verification with the purpose of preparing the audio material for a distribution format.

The process often involves enhancements made to the dynamic, spectrum and panorama parameters of the mix. In other words, loudness, frequency distribution and stereo width of the mix can be (and usually are) altered to achieve a more refined final product that is in line with modern industry practice.

First, let me say that if you can, get somebody else to do the mastering for you – especially if you are the person that recorded and mixed the track. This is to ensure a fresh pair of ears listens to the mix without any carryover effect from the mix down process. If however, you are not in the position to send your tracks to a mastering engineer, read on.

One of the most important tips before you begin mastering is to allow time between mixing and mastering. This lessens the degree to which you are invested in the mix and think as the mixing engineer. I would say give it at least a couple of weeks.

Before starting, I recommend sitting down and listening through the tracks and making notes about what bothers you most about the mixes. These notes need to be as specific as possible. Listen to the frequency balance, dynamics, stereo width and pay special attention to

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any unwanted noise or distortion. This should also be the time when you decide on the sound you are going for. Do this by putting together a playlist consisting of a few tracks of similar genre that you think are of good enough quality to act as your reference tracks.

The tools for mastering include (usually high quality) equalisers, compressors, stereo enhancers, noise reduction processors and limiters. Modern DAWs (Digital Audio Workstations) include most of these as standard plug ins, but you could also spend some money on specialised plug ins that might not be included in your DAW, or that might be of higher sonic quality.

One of the most profound ways of affecting a track is to change its frequency balance with an equaliser. When EQing, consider using small adjustments across a range of frequencies rather than a large amount of EQ applied at a single frequency. Think about reducing frequency ranges that you dislike rather than boosting the frequencies that you do like. In general restraint is the key here. It might be tempting to adjust EQ by 10dB or 15dB, but try to limit the amount of EQ to within a range of 3dB or so. Needing to use excessive amount of EQ can be indicative of serious problems with the mix.

Compression is another essential process used in mastering. Remember, a compressor reduces the difference between the loudest and quietest levels by decreasing the loud signals and increasing the quiet ones. For more information about compression you can refer to Reuben Rowntree’s article in the December, 2014 (Vol. 18, No. 7) issue of NZM. When compressing, it is better to underdo than to overdo it. Owsinski elucidates: ‘… generally speaking, the trick with compression in mastering is to use a slow release and less (usually much less) than 5dB of compression”.

And “…quiet passages that are too loud and noisy are usually a giveaway that you are seriously over-compressing.’ Use lower ratios of 1.5:1 to 3:1 and avoid using ultra fast attack times, favouring slower attack and release times for transparent compression. Oh, and do not use normalisation, it does more harm than good.

Another widely used process in mastering is stereo enhancement. This is the process by which the stereo width of the track is increased by adding some out-of-phase components from one channel to another. Increasing the stereo width can improve definition of instruments by

by David Chechelashvili

giving them a bit more space to sit in. However, be careful when adding stereo enhancement as too much of the out-of-phase content can severely compromise mono compatibility and can create an ambiguous and weak middle image. As a rule of thumb, try to limit the amount of stereo enhancement to no more than 30%.

The final step in mastering has traditionally involved the use of a limiter, with the goal of increasing the perceived loudness of the track at the expense of its dynamic range, and limiting the absolute peak level of the audio material.

In digital audio there is an absolute restriction of how hot (in terms of level) a track can be. If this ceiling is exceeded, the result will be inharmonic and unpleasant distortion.

By setting a limiter correctly at the end of the chain, it becomes possible to control the peaks in the program material so that they do not exceed the ceiling. Overuse of limiters has led to a phenomenon commonly known as the ‘Loudness War’.

Loudness War refers to the tendency of making tracks loud by reducing the peak content of the material while increasing its average amplitude. When overdone (unfortunately, too often the case), this can cause tracks to lose definition and impact. With announcements from iTunes radio, Spotify and even YouTube, that they are now adjusting the playback level of the tracks to a set amount, we can maybe regard the loudness war as a thing of the past.

If a streamed track is louder than this set value, then the track will be turned down and if the level is too quiet, it will be turned up. So, it is no longer advantageous to sacrifice the dynamics of a piece of music for loudness. (Was it ever advantageous?) With this in mind, use limiting judiciously and aim for the average dynamic range of 8dB to 14dB. Mastering should be a process of subtle adjustment of a variety of parameters with the aim of creating smoother sound all the while maintaining the context and cohesion between the tracks. There is far more to this art than I have mentioned here. If you are interested in finding out more, there are great resources that come highly recommended. Books such as The Mastering Engineer’s Handbook by Bobby Owsinski and Mastering Audio by Bob Katz should get you on your way to achieving sonic excellence. And, of course, the best way to learn these types of things is by practice.

David Chechelashvili is a tutor at SAE Institute and a studio and mastering engineer. In his spare time he composes ambient music and collects synthesisers.

He can be contacted at d.chechelashvili@ sae.edu

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hen I was 13 my mum bought me a blues guitar. I’ve still got it to this day.”

Felix Mpunga always wanted to play music and during a long summer he decided to use the guitar as his gateway to music.

“Playing basketball reps six days a week I didn’t have time for music, guitar was a side thing, so I learnt covers.”

Originally from Zimbabwe, one of the poorest countries in the world, Felix moved to New Zealand in 2004 (aged 11) with his mother and sister.

“My mum has always encouraged me to play and my sister pushes my music out for people to listen to, sometimes without telling me.”

He was given a MacBook and a USB condenser microphone for his 21st birthday, then for Christmas got a MIDI keyboard, which helped him realise the tunes in his head and bring them to life.

Released at the start of March with a gig at Bar Bodega, his first EP, ‘The Age of Uncertainty’, was recorded all by himself earlier this year, isolated from distraction at home in Christchurch.

“I’ve waited for years and now is the time to do this.”

The folk, soul EP is refreshing with beautifully rich vocals and thoughtfully deep lyrics touching on his background and journey thus far through life. Stripped back to an acoustic guitar and a few beats Felix’s voice fills all the gaps missing from other accompaniment. Last track Losing My Way is particularly touching as you can hear his influence of traditional Zimbabwean singing mixed with the influence of Aotearoa.

Currently studying International Relations at Victoria University (where he has been since 2012), Felix has an interest in journalism as well as music. When his time at uni comes to an end in June he plans to travel abroad playing music, including heading to Brisbane for a collaboration project called Without Borders; a collaboration of 15 musicians all chipping in to create a ‘mix tape’. Though still in its beginnings, the project has already got attention from hip hop managers and marketing magazines in Australia.

He intends working hard to improve his live show, making them relatable and to master the art of showmanship.

“Being really good live is an important thing, and after a bit more time and experience I would also like to add more different electronic bass to my sounds.”

Felix is already working on a second EP, aiming to release it in July this year with hopes of playing some music festivals and getting into a professional recording studio in the future.

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ive guys, five years, three (current) towns and one album, with the kind of audience that takes a careful combo of talent and web know-how to reach. Meet the soldiers of Barracks and their debut album ‘Ghosts’.

“We formed in 2010,” recalls bassist Kane Lazenby. “Martin [Mihaka, guitar] and Simon [Power, drums] started writing some songs – they sent me some of the tracks and we just started out with the three of us. We’ve gone through a few changes, but we’re pretty settled on the current set up.”

Over the course of their existence, the common descriptor for the band’s music has consistently been ‘post-hardcore’, but with different

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line-ups over the years the sound has inevitably changed.

“I feel as though it’s evolved quite a lot – Judd has a different vocal style, with more melody, so that’s influenced how ‘Ghosts’ turned out.”

Singer and relative newcomer Judd Ipsen agrees.

“It’s hard for me to say, since I haven’t been in the band for its whole existence, but I think that through the album there’s a lot of different styles anyway. We try to do as may different ones as we can – try to get in as many influences as we can.”

The five Barracks members are spread across three towns in the Bay of Plenty and neighbouring Waikato, which does provide some hiccups.

“We’ll get together and jam every couple of weekends – but Dropbox was definitely one of the main helpers in writing the album.”

Technology didn’t just help the band share ideas as they worked on the record – it has provided them with some serious boosts in terms of visibility, as Judd, who runs the band’s social media, explains.

“I saw BitTorrent had this new bundles platform. I uploaded one of our tracks, Strangers, and then a couple of days later I heard back – one of the content strategists said he wanted to feature us for free on the site.

“When we were recording the album, we were sort of throwing that idea around. We had the decision to either make a bit of money off the album and have some people hear it, or make no money off the album and have a lot of people hear it. I think it’s a path a lot of bands are taking, where they give their music away for free, and try to make some money off merchandise and playing live.”

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hile many self-managed artists keep themselves busy in the role of a working musician, Emily Rice takes the meaning of the words to a whole new level. Proof is not hard to find as 2015 has already resulted in extensive gigging, the release of an EP, music video and now travel to foreign lands. Such a workload is not something new to Rice.

“I figured out the other day I did over 10 jobs last year. It was just a really mad year, as well as recording the EP and gigs every week.”

Not strictly new to our music scene, Rice was one half of the folk duo We Stole The Sun and in 2013 completed a degree in popular music at

Auckland University. Despite an affinity for collaboration, her solo sound is one of her own – influenced by what she has done previously.

“I love collaborating with people and I think I always am. Even though it’s my solo project I’m constantly saying, ‘I’ve got this new song, what do you think of this?’ and getting advice and feedback.”

Now Berlin-based, Rice saw a busy start to the year, with performances at Festival One, Vector Arena and the Good Morning Show among her highlights before departing NZ on a one-way ticket.

Released just days ahead of that flight, her EP ‘Find Me Here’, consists of five solidly produced tracks that back Rice’s voice strongly.

Produced by Tim Burrows of Albatross Audio Productions, the songs feature catchy hooks and lush sounds that let her influences subtly flow through, with her own unique twist. This is in no small part due to a cast of talented local musicians crafting an eclectic backing for Rice.

“I knew what the songs were, but they all took a different shape when we got into the studio and that’s so exciting to see, letting them go where they want to go.”

One place they have subsequently gone is to Kimbra, one of Rice’s idols, who shared her music on Facebook late last year.

“I was so stoked she jumped on the bandwagon and shared my music. She’s been a massive inspiration for me and I’m always blown away by her charisma and energy on stage.”

Rice has her own local fan base, who helped her win the October NZ On Air funding round from The Audience. With her evident work ethic it will be interesting to see what opportunities arise for Emily Rice away from home in the coming year.

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osse In Effect is a light-hearted Kiwi hip hop collaboration between Hamish Gavin and Andy Weston. The two decided it was time to form a group after smashing out some Kanye West raps over a bonfire barrel at a Dunedin warehouse party. Since forming in 2011 Posse In Effect has departed from its Dunedin student roots, and is now geographically stretched between Andy’s current home in Melbourne and Hamish’s Auckland abode. The songs on their debut EP ‘Lazarus’ are filled with performances from long time collaborators and friends from all around the country. Among others credited they identify Hamish Marchant as an honourary third bandmate.

“The songs generally start as beats that we’ve worked on individually, occasionally with a verse, or chorus written. Then we email back and forth revisions, or suggestions for the track, and eventually a Frankenstein song comes together,” Andy explains of their process.

“The songs I guess start for me from jams on Ableton live, with sampled drums, synth or guitar and whatever else,” says Hamish. “I email ideas I like, or potential song ideas over to Andy, and we email through

bits and pieces to each other until they come together.”

He describes their musical aesthetic as ranging from old school hip hop to newer, harder electronic vibes.

“There’s a bit of rock and funk in there too – jangly guitars and funk beats on We Came Here To Party for example. Andy mastered that style in his previous band Kitten Surprise, of which I was a fan, so it’s cool to bring it into this project, and fuse it with the electronic stuff.”

We Came Here To Party is openly comedic and self-deprecating, also managing to squeeze several clever and profane party metaphors into a very short space. Yes Yes Y’all is a bouncy party-fuelled homage to vintage Beastie Boys, also seeming to recall other hip hop legends such as Run-D.M.C “I’m obsessed with old school stuff,” admits Hamish.

Indeed that name comes from a Beastie Boys’ track, and Chuck D and his pals are a big inspiration for the band, especially in their lyrical style of covering bigger topics but keeping a fun vibe to the music.

Suburban Dreams is homage to a story of kids sniffing butane and getting third degree burns in Mosgiel. Hamish and Andy are happy to admit their music was driven by a youthful frustration that comes with inactivity, miserly student living and dead end jobs, but remain upbeat.

“We don’t want our songs to come across too seriously,” states Andy.

“Hamish tries to ruin the tracks (by making them serious), and I try to bring them back up!”

Their ‘Lazarus’ EP is currently available free for download on their Bandcamp – Posse In Effect’s unique brand of indie hip hop romp is sure to get your next party started.

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n a wet and wintery day I convene with the three Blind men, within the sanctuary of a listless Mr Bun. They are wise to refuse the scalding coffee. Though they shake off the description of ‘mature’, Daniel Burmester and his bandmates are certainly more reserved and confident in the steps they regularly take than your typical upstart act.

Asked for some particularly wild or outrageous anecdotes from a performance, they struggle to get further than the time they wrote off two cars in one night – neither necessarily their fault.

“We’ve been doing this for a while now so we see less of all the funny things that used to happen at shows,” explains bassist Graeme Cummack.

“We’re more rehearsed at getting stuff done, and at the live act as a whole,” adds guitar playing front man Daniel. “You get better at checking the things that usually go wrong.”

Not to suggest that stuff is routine and dull. In fact, regular practices have only been occurring over the past few months – when according to Daniel the band actually got started in 2009 or 2010. Before they would practice in parking lots on the night of a show, now they usually get together on a Monday night.

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“That’s our boys night.”

He sees this as a result of organically gained momentum.

“The more we do it, the more we want to do it. Every time we do something, we learn from it and we think, ‘Hey, we should do another one.’”

As a result, the songwriting process has become more refined.

Where Daniel originally introduced his solo creations in their sporadic get-togethers, these days the guys have the democracy to bring original riffs to the plate for a collaborative effort, which in itself impacts on their appreciation of each others’ work.

They all cite The Gamble as a favourite off the new album.

“It starts slow and mellow and then it builds in to a strong structure, and then it dips back down before final chaos, which is a nice trip for the song to take,” says Daniel.

“I like the story and I like playing it live. It kind of feels like you’re on the edge of your seat,” Graham adds.

In a live setting, audiences are beset with foot-tapping Mumford and Sons-style banjo plucking. The recorded material “…goes a lot more places, there’s a lot more songs that are reflective or interesting,” according to drummer Tom McGraph.

“We’ve just always played upbeat stuff live,” says Daniel. “It’s good fun to do. I guess all those mellower songs are good to listen to when you know them, or in a situation where you’re on the bus or at home, whereas maybe for the average person coming to see us, who may not even know us, the uplifting stuff is easier. They want to dance.”

The band will release their, ‘Alright, Goodnight’ album in Wellington late April, followed by a succession of North Island dates.

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How Dynamic Is Your Playing?

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ne of the things that noticeably separates professional players from amateur ones is the use of dynamics.

Dynamics normally relate to volume, like that of getting louder or softer. Common song dynamics are when a chorus is slightly louder than a verse, or when instrumentalists use dynamics to build a solo up to a climax, then release to wind back into the vocal section etc.

However, dynamics within music can get much more complicated at advanced levels.

Dynamics are simple to understand, but definitely not easy to put into practice. Many musicians, guitarists included, don’t seem to get into the habit of using them in performance – which is a critical aspect of making great music for audiences. If music lacks dynamics

it will have no feel – a bit like listening to a monotonic speaker.

So, how dynamic is your playing at the moment? Do you include dynamics in your practising? What I have in store for you this month are some basic exercises to get you into the habit of practising dynamics. Hopefully after a bit of practice they will become second nature to you.

Dynamics are notated in music like this; piano or the symbol (p) means to play soft; mezzo piano or (mp) means to play medium soft; and forte or (f ) means to play loud. There are many more dynamic markings you can see in music, but they are the ones we will use for this lesson. You will also see crescendo and decrescendo signs, which are the two lines

with the increasing or decreasing gap between them. The volume increases when the lines widen, and decrease when the lines narrow.

Exercise 1 is a simple C major scale in the open position, but if you are more experienced you can use any scale you know. The crescendo and decrescendo lines indicate to begin as quietly as you can, then build up the volume until you hit the highest note, which should be the loudest. Then as you descend the scale you get quieter again.

When strumming volume dynamics as illustrated in Exercise 2, it gets a bit more tricky.

It is much more difficult to play quietly and will take a lot more practice to get this going well, but stick with it as the rewards will be great. As you can see the two chords are a simple C and G7 open chord, but you can use any chords for this type of practice.

Before taking on the next one make sure you can play Exercises 1 and 2 well first.

Exercise 3 is similar to the previous one, but uses eighth note strumming. This takes the difficulty level up another notch, but again you will be well rewarded for the effort involved.

You can take the difficulty level up further again as in Exercise 4, but make sure you are very good the at previous three first. Here you start very quiet on the first note, but don’t have much time getting to the loudest note. Then you have to go from loud to soft in the space of one note.This type of dynamic playing could be heard in a guitar solo.

You are now most probably beginning to see why many guitarists don’t focus much on dynamics. They are difficult, but once you get a little better at them your playing will go to new heights.

One hint: Always learn a song or solo first – then consider how you can use dynamics later.

Kevin Downing is a professional guitarist, teacher and author. His contact details, along with many freebies are on his website at www.guitar.co.nz

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The Jury And The Saints The Jury And The Saints have been busy pretty much since forming in 2009. Not long after they toured Australasia with Paramore and have since put out a couple of EPs and a debut album, 2010’s ‘Daydreams’.

Now signed with SPV, a German record label, earlier this year they graced the cover (plus eight editorial pages) of German rock mag Visions, and have recently released a self-titled sophomore album, which they recorded in Germany with a decidedly German rock producer. Eddie Dawn-McCurdy talked over watery coffees with singer Jesse Smith and guitarist Rowan Crowe about their apparent Teutonic obsession and life as family-centric international musicians.

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Knocking On The Devil's Door

uckland rock band The Jury And The Saints know a little about success. Captivating live shows propelled their 2011 second EP ‘Revival’ to a peak of #2 on the NZ Top 40 chart, and sales of over 7500 copies. After subsequently signing to wide-ranging Hannover label SPV, the four-piece played Switzerland, Austria and Germany in mid-2013 before recording near Berlin.

According to guitarist Rowan Crowe, their German love affair is more chance and opportunity than any planning on their part.

“It’s funny. It just happened to be over there that they loved the music – you know, it’s big choruses and gang singing and rock music, I guess.”

“Apparently because there was a bunch of stuff coming out of NZ that was good, every week they’d [SPV] check the NZ charts,” hard-working vocalist Jesse Smith adds. “And because we were punky kind of rock they thought, ‘Oh yeah, this could work.’”

The band (which also includes Ivan Beets on bass/vocals and Marty Kroon drums/vocals), signed on with SPV at the end of 2012, and in the

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middle of the following year The Jury And The Saints headed to Europe for six weeks. Three weeks of touring (playing to 6000-strong crowds, with a Deutschrock band they assure me you’ll never hear of outside of Germany), was followed by three weeks recording what would become their second album, a life experience Jesse says he’ll never forget.

“We ended up in a tiny town just outside Berlin for three weeks, staying at this weird little hotel just round the corner from the studio. The landlady didn’t speak a word of English and was an alcoholic – so it made for very interesting conversation.”

The band didn’t know German-born rock producer Alex Lysjakow before recording with him either, simply following the label’s suggestion that they work together.

“But we were psyched with what he did,” confirms Jesse.

Lysjakow is likely best known as bassist in Down Below, a decade-old East German rock/metal act, more recently gaining credit as a producer and mixing / mastering engineer.

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“He produces a lot of rock, and coming from a punk background I think he gets it more,” adds Rowan.“It needs to capture that energy, that essence of what it is, or else it’s …” he gives an exaggerated shrug.

The central photo in their album sleeve is of a massive and keenly arm-waving German crowd, and it does seem they’ve managed to capture that energy. The album has been well received overseas. Along with the obvious interest in Germany, as evidenced by their cover slot on German rock mag Visions, there have been high-scoring reviews from magazines and websites like Kerrang, Rock Sound and AltCorner. But any such positive buzz overseas can feel oddly distant when the band’s back in NZ. “It’s one of those things where it feels like you’re having a dream at night and then you wake up the next day,” says Rowan. “It doesn’t feel like reality. You get these things from the label saying, ‘This is incredible that you guys got this!’ But when you’re here it doesn’t feel like it’s happening, so you just go [shrug] – ‘Oh well, guess I’ll keep cleaning windows!’”

Jesse explains that much of the 20-month delay between recording and release was because they mixed the album fully three times, in order to make sure it was how they wanted it to sound. It was ready by mid-2014 but the label then went through a merger with BMG, which held up a lot of planned releases.

Their bio describes The Jury And The Saints’ sound as ‘stadium rock’, but their pop-punk roots aren’t far from the surface. Jesse was in Streetwise Scarlett, while Rowan played in Goodnight Nurse, two of the bigger bands in New Zealand’s mid-2000s pop-punk scene.

“Pop-punk was just slowly fading out back then – now we’re trying to resurrect it,” says Jesse. “We gave it a break, rewrote it, let it mature and we’re taking over again.”

They’re open about their enthusiasm for the genre.

“Pop-punk’s still my favourite because it’s so happy,” Rowan says.“It just makes you want to have fun. But then hardcore has that aggression and energy that no other genre has.”

And while their tastes these days include bands like Brand New and Balance and Composure, one of the big names that comes up as an influence is Blink 182.

“It’s not like we sound like them, but it’s the influence of just… being silly, you know? Having fun,” Rowan explains. “I like that, instead of people trying to be cool or real serious about it, they just have fun and do it. And for me, I love how they’d just be silly when they play live. I think that’s a big part of how we started as well, just silly and fun. I guess we’ve got better at playing since, and actually focused on that, but also on putting on a really fun show so people leave going, ‘I had so much fun tonight’. That’s what I want – I want people to come and actually feel like they had a good time, instead of feeling like they came and watched a band that was trying to get more famous.”

“We want to put on a show that if someone comes and they had to bring their mum, because they were too young or something, the mum would have a good time as well, even if she didn’t like the music,” adds Jesse. “We’re just trying to create a good time for people, I guess.”

And good times on stage for themselves, too. Like the time they threw sausages out into the crowd and got told off by Paramore’s tour manager.

And when Rowan shot Jesse in the face with a confetti cannon.

“It was such a mess. The problem was that we’d already thrown out the sausages, and so people were throwing everything back on stage and it was mixing raw sausage with confetti… it was like PVA glue everywhere.”

Despite such antics and opportunities the band tries to stay down to earth, balancing the music and touring with real life. Three of the four have families and so need to balance rock’n roll with being husbands and dads. Jesse denies there’s any contradiction between making shouty punk music and having small children.

“If you’d met my children it’d make sense! They’re all insane,” he laughs.

“But for me the idea of musicians having to be these young dudes with no wives or kids to be cool is something that I want to destroy. I dislike that ‘rockstar’ idea, so I’m happy to go against the grain, you know? I think part of what I want to do is just be a normal dude, but also do what I love doing – and not let music control my life in every single aspect.”

Straightforward enough. But the tone seems like it’s threatening to get too deep, so we go back to joking about watery coffee and sausage throwing, and not too long after that Jesse and Rowan have to go back to work.

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Industry

Behind New Plymouth’s Singer Songwriters

by Matt Herrett

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sk anyone in New Plymouth where to get a gig and they’ll likely answer with the simple phrase, ‘Anand Rose’. In the last 10 years Rose has made a name for himself as a promoter with a different take on bringing live music to the masses.

“He’s unlike anyone else I’ve met in the industry,” reckons Chris Dent of Auckland alt-country rockers Albi and the Wolves. “His drive brings people together in a huge way.”

Rose is an Irish import, following his sister to Taranaki 14 years ago. In 2005 he started a humble monthly acoustic open mic night simply called Singer Songwriters. It started in the Basement Bar, known then mostly for its heavy rock and metal scene.

“I wanted to bring the traditions of the Irish music session to an audience that I knew existed here in New Plymouth,” he explains.

“In Ireland, there’s a respect for musicians of all levels. There’s no hierarchy – everyone gets a turn and the audience has to be quiet and respect the musician that’s performing on that stage.”

Of course controlling how an audience behaves in any situation is no easy task.

“Music is fragile,” Rose reflects.“I worked hard

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to create a safe environment for it. I made sure there was good seating and I made sure it was all pointing towards the stage. I made sure that we used candles and low lighting and made sure I asked for quiet between sets and enlisted shushers – people in the audience to call gently for hush when required.”

It worked.

That was a decade ago, and after moving to the larger capacity Little Theatre, the monthly event has developed into a well-recognised and respected brand, with the release of five album compilations showcasing the regulars, as well as special slots at the Festival of Lights and a 10th anniversary event coming up at the TSB Showplace. Singer Songwriters continues to be one of New Plymouth's most popular regular nights out, both for the audience and the playing community, and rarely is the place not filled to capacity on both sides of the curtain.

himself much admired for his supportive ways.

“He’s Cus Damato, Angelo Dundee and Drew Bundini Brown all wrapped up in one. He wants you in the ring. He believes in the alchemy of song, sees what it can do for you and he's gonna set it up so you can make it happen.”

Strong words indeed from the charismatic McGrath, and he’s not alone – Irish songstress Sive recently flew into the country for a tour.

“It’s about coming together to share our ideas, our creativity, and our experiences. It’s about expression and being open. The New Plymouth music community embodies all of these things and Anand is a big part of that.”

It’s that community spirit that’s driving his latest venture – house concerts. Whilst the concept is not a new one, the idea has yet to take hold in New Plymouth and Rose sees a gap in the market.

“Pop-up gigs are a fantastic way to bring music to people. You can avoid the politics and cynicism of the traditional venue model, and as a musician, you can get to know your audience whilst they get to know you.”

“The friendships that form when you put musicians together are the basis for a strong music community, and collaboration brings the magic.” – Anand Rose Not one to rest on his laurels, Rose has used his success to put himself amongst it, networking like a pro, working every music event he can get himself into – WOMAD, G-Taranaki, The Festival of Lights, The Parihaka Festival, the Arts Festival. Not to mention the hundreds of smaller gigs he’s put on in the region, showcasing and promoting acts ranging from the fresh-faced locals to well known international acts. He runs a radio show showcasing local talent and “relaxes” every Friday night down at the Hour Glass, where he’s pulled together a loose collective of musicians that jam late into the night.

“I feel strongly that community is where it’s at. You have to encourage solidarity between musicians. It should be fun and uplifting. The friendships that form when you put musicians together are the basis for a strong music community, and collaboration brings the magic. Anyone has potential, and careers can be launched at any level – I get a kick from that.”

It’s clear that Rose’s support for musicians of all levels is gaining recognition outside of the region.

“He’s maybe the greatest corner man in folk music,” says The Eastern’s Adam McGrath,

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Is that important?

“Absolutely. After 10 years, I know that the market for live, intimate music is a niche one.

I know there are maybe a thousand people out there in New Plymouth right now that are interested in what we want to show them. I want to get to know them personally. I want them to feel involved and part of the community. House concerts work because they bring the musician to the audience in a natural, social context.”

It’s obvious that Rose works hard with promotion, utilising all mediums.

“Look, the word on the street is that you can have your best or worst gig here in New Plymouth.

The scene is there, but it’s still very underground. You have to get out there and ask the audience to be involved. You have to advertise every gig. It’s bloody hard work! I have to plan ahead – give myself time to get everything lined up for a show – but I’m much more relaxed about it these days.

“You know, it doesn’t matter if it’s an open mic night, a house concert, a stadium show, a high profile touring act or a major festival – if the heart’s in it, it’s gonna work.”

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NPNFOUT MJLF UIFTF Curated by Trevor Reekie

Andrew Fagan was back out on the road over New Year with his band Fagan and The People – loud, psychedelic, totally fearless and very funny. Given Fagan’s back catalogue dating back to his formative days with the Ambitious Vegetables, a significant strike rate recorded with The Mockers, and his solo material, he has an enviable repertoire of songs to draw from. But there’s more to Fagan than just great songs.

He’s a published poet, author (his book Swirly World Sails South is a wonderful memoir), broadcaster, father, and a committed sailor who has made some fearless solo voyages that all have contributed to the man he has become. Andrew is a righteous raconteur and a generous spirit who has navigated a passage through a lifetime of musical terrains.

Can you remember when, where and who took this photo?

I remember it well. 35mm film shoot overnight making the video for One Black Friday, which RCA had us record in Sydney, back in 1985. The circus were set up at Victoria Park in Auckland. They had a mad elephant tamer, he was as hard as nails! The photo was taken by Sally Tagg.

What was the inspiration for that song, One Black Friday?

Lyrically it was about the Queen Street riot, late 1984 at Aotea Square.

We played first followed by Herbs and DD Smash (Dave Dobbyn). A few brown beer bottles were thrown at us and exploded on stage around us.

It was one of those gigs where you had to keep your eyes open while singing. There were different layers of music enthusiasts in the audience.

Up front while we played were our dedicated followers. Further back there were Herbs’ fans who didn’t really like us. Our songs were too fast and poppy for them, and what we were wearing (including makeup and black nail polish) seemed to antagonise them even more. I remember enjoying verbally abusing them in-between songs once the beer bottles started exploding, so that probably didn’t help either.

You started out in the band the Ambitious Vegetables in Wellington.

Was that your point of entry into the music business?

It was 1978 and I’d just discovered The Sex Pistols. Charlie Mannell (the drummer) and I shared similar punk rock tastes and I went about finding anyone who could play an instrument and were up for spending their lunchtime in one of the music rooms at Rongotai College. Gordon Costello (the guitarist) was into Yes and could play Don’t Fear the Reaper

by Blue Oyster Cult. He was really a bit musically over-qualified but I managed to talk him into playing hard and fast.

Our first bass player couldn’t really play but as an intellectual in the same Latin class as me he saw the appeal of punk rock. Later Gareth

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Andrew Fagan L-R (musicians): Tim Wedde playing keys, Brett Adams on guitar, front man Andrew Fagan, Geoff Hayden on bass and Steve Thorpe drumming – The Mockers.

Curtis (who went on to become my songwriting partner in The Mockers) also managed to lower his musicality for a while to become the next bass player. I jumped around and shouted a lot. We played at our school assembly and did a cover of Pretty Vacant and an original called Mackay Wanks. Mackay was the authoritarian headmaster and suddenly our reputation spread through the Wellington punk rock community.

Famous Fran Walsh (Peter Jackson’s wife) was then the guitarist in a band called The Wall Sockets, and she invited us to play a lunchtime gig at Wellington Girls’ College. Other late night support gigs followed at the likes of the Rock Theatre and The Last Resort, and free Sunday arvo gigs in Cuba Mall with other alternative enthusiastic bands like Shoes This High, Life in the Fridge Exists, etc. We were away!

How and why did you then form The Mockers – who went on to establish a massive audience in such a short time?

I got sick of constantly shouting and jumping around to super fast songs and wanted to try singing for a change. I also became enamoured with Gareth’s melodic prolific song output so we thought it was time to get more musically serious.

We’d seen and supported so many touring bands come through Wellington, Flight X7, Lip Service, The Techtones, Screaming Meemees, Pink Flamingos, etc. We compared ourselves to them and often felt frustrated that they had an audience nationally and we didn’t. I started becoming envious of them all. To set up and play in a different town every night seemed to me like the way to live the dream!

I wanted a go, but not everyone in the band at the time agreed. Hence multiple line-up changes over time. In the university holidays I caught a bus to Auckland and met the manager of The Dabs, Ian Kingsford, who was sharing an office with Simon Grigg from Propellor Records at the time. Murray Cammick (Rip It Up) let me sleep on his couch. Kingsford began the exciting cycle of constant gigging to basically not many people, with the odd big support gig thrown in. His ability to handle and shrug off mounting totally self-delusional debt to PA, lighting and

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booking agent companies made the whole exercise possible.

Those were the days of constant six week regional tours with hire vans and JBL and Cerwin Vega PAs, light rigs and roadies that travelled with you everywhere. They got paid as a priority, we didn’t. It was financially unrealistic but transient good fun. If we got a staff meal in a local pub then no per diems. If not, $5 a day.

That often meant no meal, preferring to save the money for the bar. The level of collective debt we developed almost meant we couldn’t stop.

Another gig to drip feed the dosh to the booking agent or whoever was a necessary thing.

But we were slowly becoming more popular as a pub band, and for the sake of the songs and the fun, it seemed worth persevering.

What are your memories of The Mockers’ recording sessions through the ’80s and ’90s?

The Mockers’ first single The Good Old Days / Murder In Manners St was funded by TVNZ as part of a scheme they had in place in 1980 in order to have a sound recording that could be used for videos to be played on Radio With Pictures. Peter Blake was the main guy and saw The Mockers support Rick Bryant’s band Top Scientists at the Majestic Cabaret on Willis St., Wellington. Peter was very supportive and we were very keen. We even got paid a fee for it!

Trendy Lefties and Woke Up Today were recorded at Studio Two the Radio NZ Bowen St. complex. We paid for those from memory. Went to the Polygram factory in Kilbirnie and got them pressed there. Sat on the floor at home and put the photocopied piece of paper sleeve into the clear plastic bags they came with. Took them to Chelsea Records (Jim Moss) in Manners St. Mall and sent them out and about. Roger Shepherd (pre Flying Nun) sold quite a few in Christchurch.

Once relocated to Auckland we got a downtime deal with Glyn Tucker Jnr at Mandrill Studios and signed to Reaction Records.

Downtime meant when there were no paying clients in the studio so we got to do our recording. It took a long time, months and months, but we finally got there. ‘Swear It’s True’ was the album that eventually went platinum. It was fun getting to work in a professional studio, but given the poverty stricken reality of our day to day lives as aspiring musicians we always felt slightly out of our depths as a band in such a well-appointed place. The discipline of playing in time and singing in tune was a novelty that we slowly became accustomed to.

RCA bought us off Reaction and bribed us with the rock’n’roll possibility of recording in Sydney. That resulted in the ‘Culprit And The King’ album that went gold in NZ. Staying at Bondi Beach, in a famous rock’n’roll hotel with cockroaches that had seen really famous Australian rockers before, was a gratifying step up in our minds.

Record company-funded per diems and a big, seemingly endless budget (The Mockers still owe RCA 42,000 un-recouped Australian dollars) felt like hitting the big time! Recording in Glebe Studios and being taken out to dinner most nights for a few concentrated months by record company executives was as good as it got.

The band relocated to London in the late ’80s. What were your expectations and the reality once you arrived there?

After Steve Thorpe, our drummer, died in 1986 the whole foundation of ‘good times self-indulgent fun’ collapsed. We did another album with Peter Dawkins as producer, ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes’, but with Steve’s death the guts had been knocked out of the band.

We’d hit that ceiling that touring bands had to inevitably hit in NZ – been round and around too long, couldn’t keep pulling a provincial crowd every three months – and the touring live scene future for us as a band looked fairly dismal. It was in those days well precedented. I figured we were too poppy and nancy boyish for the Oz scene and opted for the UK. In the UK I focused on trying to write good songs and got distracted by living on a mobile riverboat on the non-tidal Thames River. A couple of years went by that produced some compelling songs (from my perspective) then Geoff Hayden the bass player turned up, followed by Brett Adams, and we agreed it was worth exploiting our past NZ history by playing the usual London gigs to ex-pat NZers.

We came up with a batch of good new band songs but without local management to thrust us into the right business ears we got bogged down in the usual London scenario of everyone having their energies drained by simply trying to stay alive and get around in that over-crowded place. I liken those years to trying to slash your way through thick undergrowth with a guitar that should have been a machete; trying to get to the clearing at the top of the hill where the global audience was waiting. Sadly we didn’t, and all that can be found are the bones of The Mockers…

Returning to NZ you recorded your first solo album with Sony. ‘Blisters’ is still a great album but never achieved the success it deserved. How do you look back on it?

I’ve got no idea. But I have. At that stage I’d become yesterday’s man. So no matter what I offered up musically in NZ after The Mockers, it was destined to be dismissed by critics, and of course our loyal young Mockers’ audience had grown up and moved on to other things. I ‘m still proud of Band of Rain (should have been a single) and Jerusalem. Having Shona Laing and Debbie Harwood do guest vocals on that song was great. They still turn up for the odd live occasion and I enjoy rubbing shoulders with them as we mutually belt out the harmonies!

Big ups to Sony for funding the trip to Jerusalem to do the video for the song. It was historically important to print that moment as the sun came up over the Mount of Olives. Me in my gold suit at the blocked up Golden Gate above the Garden of Gethsemane; fulfilling the messianic prophecy without being interfered with by any enemies… I can’t believe we got away with it.

What finally brought you and Karyn back to live in NZ? As a day job in London I started working for bands that were more popular than mine and funded by record companies and their own success. (What a novel concept that

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was to witness!) It didn’t take long to adjust to becoming a ‘roadie’. I was surrounded by many talented musicians who found it equally as uncomfortable as me to swallow the subservient nature of our employment. But in London it’s a very common thing. Working at Sensible Music, a backline hire company, I utilised all the gear for live Camden gigs, late night band recordings et al. That was the only positive. Sensible Music was the Alladin’s Cave mecca for any recording artist. Often we’d play a poxy new band night with the drum kit or bass rig that had just come off the back of a Bryan Adams or Wheatus European tour.

Our last LIG gig in the UK (Kevin Moody guitar, Craig Horne drums, Barbara Morgan bass) was with The Darkness in Essex. It was a bank holiday weekend gig, organised by a local fanzine trainspotter that chose to put a few ‘blatant lead singer show-off’ bands together on one hot afternoon bill.

Little did we suspect that that uncool Thin Lizzy-like dueling lead guitar solo (almost covers band) with their tops off would carry on from there and conquer the world. We drove back to Peckham afterwards with no expectations, other than getting out of London asap after seven years slightly wasted.

You’ve played with many local and international artists. Which have made the biggest impression on you and why?

Ian Dury And The Blockheads, Wellington Town Hall early ’80s. Because Wilco Johnson the manic guitarist from Essex was on stage (ex-Dr Feelgood), and because Ian broke a real wine bottle on his own head and kept singing.

How much has sailing and particularly your long distance solo voyages contributed to you and the man you have become?

I’m not sure I’ve become a ‘man’ but I am a male. Solo in my 5.4 metre sloop, Swirly World, there and back to Raoul Island (Kermedec Islands) in 1986. Navigating by sextant pre-GPS convenience. There and back to Australia in 1994. A circumnavigation of NZ including a visit to the Auckland Islands in 2007. Multiple voyages to Waiheke Island from the Auckland Harbour Bridge and back, including one last week… ha ha. Eleven years living on boats on the London canals and the Thames River.

Nothing like being afloat. It makes living feel more worthwhile.

What’s the most important thing you can pass on to a young musician intent on a career as a professional musician?

Don’t bother. Expect to remain an amateur and stay focused on the intent to create something you alone like. It’s a short step to becoming a ‘professional’. All you need is an audience.

Is there one mistake that you learned more from than other mistakes?

It’s a mistake to listen to the opinion of anyone who is not a music practitioner themselves – ie. everyone else in the music ‘industry’.

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Extended Play For the extended version go to

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Strange Harvest

Catching a Cold Wave Husband and wife duo Justin Walshaw and Bianca Prujean are Strange Harvest, a Dunedin duo that create (mostly) synth-based music that shimmers in its darkness. Their third album, ‘Pattern Recognition’ continues with what Stereo Embers magazine called their ‘shifting, sci-fi, post-punk landscapes’. Amanda Mills caught up with the Palmerston North natives in their adopted home of Dunedin.

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he musical backgrounds of Strange Harvest’s Justin Walshaw and Bianca Prujean (aka Skye Strange) are eclectic. Prujean is a keyboardist (having been familiar with the piano for a number of years), who played bass in a Blink-182 covers band when she was younger.

Walshaw says he’s always seemed to have a guitar around.

“I think the first song I learned to play was an Oasis song. It was basically three chords. But perhaps it was more about how you hold the guitar.”

After meeting in their hometown of Palmerston North, the pair travelled to Europe for their OE. Seeing bands like American experimental neo-psychedelicists Gang Gang Dance inspired them to collaborate musically.

Returning to NZ, Prujean was the first to move to Dunedin in order to study theatre at Otago University in 2002. She became part of all-girl experimental no-wave bands The Autoharpies and Rise of the City Cat Cult, before she and Walshaw created Strange Harvest in 2011. The band name came from a nightmarish dream Prujean had.

“Sort of like a ‘Children of the Corn’ horror of the last supper, of dripping meat and various characters from Gossip Girl,” Walshaw explains.

“By the next day we had the name… and then it’s just a name that other people project things onto, which is just human nature.”

So why stay in Dunedin?

“It felt like a good place,” Walshaw states. “Dunedin obviously also has a strong musical heritage and there are cycles of time where venues open

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and a new crowd comes in with new sounds – so it’s a good place to be a weirdo. The conservative nature of a relatively small place is off-set by the art scene.”

And how about fitting in with any of the local scenes?

“Everything fits, that’s the problem!” Walshaw responds seriously.“ I feel like we’re the older guys, but that’s a good thing… I hope we can show the younger people that you can write bizarre lyrics to a beat, and maybe it inspires kids to make their own music.”

‘Pattern Recognition’ is an evolution from their last two albums, 2011’s lo-fi, jangly ‘Here Is Where You Are’ released on Lttl Paisly Records (‘a little music, art, fashion & screenprinting label from Dunedin, NZ’), and 2013’s self-released darker synth-based ‘Inside A Replica City’. Recorded at producer Tommy Thomas’s home, ‘Pattern Recognition’, and second track Astronaut in particular, are his favourites.

“We recorded very quickly over one weekend at Tommy’s house.

We knew the songs really well and it just sounds fresh. I think it’s quite accessible and the keyboards and vocals are right up front.”

The nature of change and growth caused Strange Harvest to move on from Lttl Paisly. “[It wasn’t] because we didn’t want to be on Lttl Paisly… it was more about the self control,” Walshaw explains. “And, such small runs, there weren’t many copies.”

The album title comes from dystopian cyberpunk author William Gibson’s book of the same name, though the album is not sci-fi influenced.

“It’s not really a futuristic album – but there are themes about how people interact with technology,” Walshaw admits.

The duo’s music is minimalist, based on beats, and combining Prujean’s drum machines and Walshaw’s fuzzy guitars. The lyrics are split mostly evenly between them, and during the writing process their influences were fluid, as they investigated aural touchstones they were compared with – both negative and positive.

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The songs have been gestating for a while.

Walshaw and Prujean spent time listening to ’80s underground synth tracks, linking them to modern sounds through their influences, piecing together a timeline from old school to the new, while picking through new pop and hip hop sounds for interesting a n d referential points.

“After we put out our last record, ‘Inside a Replica City’, people told us that we sound like coldwave,” Walshaw says. “So we were like, ‘What is this coldwave business?’ And it led to listening to lots of French electronica and synthesiser-based music from now and the ’80s… We had a sound we wanted to capture… kind of embracing the coldwave label, which suits the futurism themes on the album. And at the same time, we were listening to lots of hip hop – like Earl Sweatshirt and old Wu-Tang.”

While ‘Pattern Recognition’ takes from these influences, pop sensibilities come through, especially on Colonies and Dominican, both of which flow melodically against walls of synthesiser. The title track is more rhythmic: a driving beat underpins almost robotic vocals from Prujean, while Walshaw intones semi-dramatically, over a a wall of fuzzed guitars, with synth chords and keyboard motifs buried a little more in the mix. Lyrically there is some element of storytelling, but not often from first person narration.

“The lyrics can be a bit cryptic!” Walshaw obliges. “I know what Skye is on about because I asked her, but I’m not going to spoil it for other people.”

Their 10-track album has an interesting dual emphasis of guitar and synth.

“I felt like my guitar playing had improved to a point where I could match what Skye was playing,” confesses Walshaw. “She’d give me the chords and I’d try to find a bit of a riff without having to rely on distortion for every song – just some delay and really let the keyboards guide the track. I think beats are… important… when we write songs, the song sits on the beat.”

He sees their band as an amalgamation of sounds.

“I think we’re thought of as a minimal-synth band. But we’re also kind of crunchy – the guitars are often distorted and glitchy. Our aesthetic is conceptual futurism – with some tracks about technology. We also have more personal tracks based in the here and now.”

The cover art (a black orange) and videos also add to their aural and visual aestheic. Local artists Phoebe MacKenzie and Emily Berryman have created the artwork and visuals, including the video for Amnesia from ‘Inside A Replica City’.

“They understand where we are coming from,” says Walshaw. “It’s naïve but psychedelic and a bit dark.”

Alongside Strange Harvest, Prujean, has an electronica solo project, Embedded Figures,

and has recently released a digital EP, ‘Fig. 1’ (also mixed, recorded and mastered with Thomas). Does this impact on the band?

“These are songs that stand alone from Strange Harvest, there’s no need for a guitar,”

The original plan with ‘Pattern Recognition’ was for an online release only, but they decided on cassette,accompanied with download codes.

Walshaw explains. “In terms of the impact on Strange Harvest… she’s getting good radio play and it creates some buzz.”

‘Pattern Recognition’ will be released on cassette. The original plan was for an online release only, but they considered vinyl and CD before deciding on cassette accompanied with download codes. Mostly obsolete to the

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masses, this format, is important to the duo as they cemented their personal relationship through creating and sending cassettes to each other, a sonic love-letter, if you like.

“Skye makes the best mixtapes,” Walshaw enthuses. “I’m talking about old C90 cassette tape mixtapes – it’s how we really found each other. Making a mixtape is like an artform.”

Unsure of the next steps following the album’s release party at Port Chalmers’ Chicks Hotel in late April, he thinks they will likely start something new.

“Once the record’s out there, we lose control of it. It’s all grown up and left the house. So we’ll probably want to build up something new to replace it.”

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ollowing the James Jamerson lines we looked at a few issues ago, I thought that we might look at a different side of his playing in this issue.

The lines I have transcribed are from What’s Going On by Marvin Gaye, which was released in 1971, at which point Gaye and Berry Gordy (the founder of Tamla Motown) had a very strained relationship. While Gaye had been married to Gordy’s daughter, the two men were at odds over what kind of material Gaye should be releasing, and Gaye was becoming increasingly politicised in his lyrics concerning the treatment of Afro–Americans at the time.

Gordy, however, did not want Tamla Motown to be associated with political issues.

Another Gaye song that addresses Afro-American problems is Inner City Blues, also released in 1971. Gaye was also aware of the extremely high number of Afro–American youth being drafted to fight in the Viet Nam War. Consequently, What’s Going On nearly remained unreleased, but it went on to become one of his most famous songs and one of the first that he produced himself. Gaye always preferred Jamerson for his bass lines and so the rhythm track for this song was recorded in Detroit (because Jamerson did not like living in Los Angeles), and then finished in LA. Legend has it that Jamerson did not arrive on time for the session and was found in a local bar, rather inebriated. He is said to have played the whole track lying on his back but still able to read the arrangement – but that’s just an anecdote I’ve heard over the years!

More interestingly though, Gaye did not use either of the Motown house drummers (‘Pistol’ Allen or Uriel Jones – Benny Benjamin had died in 1969). Gaye wanted a different feel to the solid ‘four to the bar’ almost rock feel in the drum parts that is very common in Motown’s earlier repertoire.

Wanting instead a more ‘current’ sound for the time, he chose drummer Chet Forest, among other non-Motown musicians.

I have transcribed the first verse because, despite working with a different drummer that he was not used to, and the presence of several new musicians, the line flows with an almost swing feel, and still has the Jamerson trade marks, such as the ties that occur in most bars and which add syncopation to very solid drum and conga parts.

The drum part is more contemporary than earlier Motown material, with the inclusion of congas providing an important point of difference as well.

I have also transcribed the first bridge.

Here, Jamerson plays in his more familiar territory using short ‘rakes’ between the higher tonic note and the note a fourth below. He again uses ties that create the

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‘funk’ of the track that both locks in with the drums yet provides all the funky groove. (Maybe I’m biased though.)

The final two bars of the 12-bar bridge have him playing chromatically (in semitones) and finally playing a fast, raked B minor figure against an A major chord leading to the next verse in E major. You can hear the track on Youtube at https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=H-kA3UtBj4M and, even better, live with Jamerson at https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=S67ETkOzAck

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(Dr. Rob Burns is an Associate Professor in Music at the University of Otago in Dunedin. As a former professional studio bassist in the UK, he performed and recorded with David Gilmour, Pete Townsend, Jerry Donahue, Isaac Hayes, Sam and Dave, James Burton, Ian Paice and Jon Lord, Eric Burdon and members of Abba. He played of the soundtracks on many UK television shows, such as Red Dwarf, Mr. Bean, Blackadder, Not the Nine O’Clock News and Alas Smith and Jones.

Rob is currently a member of Dunedin bands Subject2change and The Verlaines.)

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ManaLion In September 2012, ManaLion was just an idea in the minds of drummer ‘Mondo’, bassist ‘Slam Duncan’ and frontman ‘Duan & Only’.

All that brought the three Kiwis together was that they lived in the same Sydney suburb and loved live music. Two months later, they were playing to thousands at the Natural Music Fest in Perth after winning a competition, brushing shoulders with Shapeshifter, Kora and Trinity Roots. Less than three years after the Manly neighbours decided to take their musical chemistry on the road, the trio still remain cautiously independent, but now with a battle-tested debut under their belts. Their introductory album, ‘Back In The Day’, is a sleek and confident first release, and carries on a long Kiwi tradition of making damn good dub music. Mohamed Hassan managed to catch them, via Skype, on a rare morning off from their busy touring schedule – finding them battling hangovers and gleefully recovering from a Tiki Taane gig the night before.

Your album’s been out for a few months now.

How are you feeling about it?

Mondo: We dig it. I love it. But it’s still early days for us really. We’ve been pushing it independently and it’s been going well, but I think there’s still a lot more that it can cover as an album. It needs a lot more exposure. We’ve got some good support networks but I think it’s got potential to reach a wider audience.

Duan: We had no budget, so we pretty much did it ghetto-style just in my bedroom.

We’re happy with it. I listen to a lot of shit on the radio, and I’m like, ‘This is shit’. I listen to our stuff and I’m like, ‘It still sort of stands up’.

You guys have been touring a lot, yeah?

Mondo: We’ve done Australia a few times.

We did a major tour with Rebel Souljahz just before we released the album, and that really helped. Big crowds, that was really good. From there, we were offered other shows back in NZ from doing that tour, and it’s sort of taken off from there.

Slam: It’s been one little lifeline really.

Duan: We’re bleeding it for everything it has.

Mondo: Which helps, you gotta be on tour to meet the right kinds of people.

The album sound is quite grand, how does it translate on the stage?

Duan: I think it sounds cool. I think generally it transcends live.

Mondo: Because the three of us are kind of multi-instrumentalists, there’s a lot going on between a three-piece. We’ll turn up to a gig, and sound engineers will freak out on the equipment we turn out with. Because they think, a three-piece, you know, guitar, bass and drums.

Duan: And we’ve all got massive nuts.

Mondo: We use a lot of different instruments

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Holla & Dance live. Slam’s a great drummer himself, and percussionist, bass, he’s got a synth. He pretty much plays all these things at the same time.

Duan’s playing guitar, keys, melodica.

Duan: Sometimes none.

Mondo: Yeah, sometimes he just stops playing randomly and jumps into the crowd.

Slam: We all cut our teeth playing live, really.

This is how the band started. We got a residency gig in a local pub, and we just got together and had to learn how to play together live.

What was it like playing the Natural Music Festival?

Mondo: We had a really good gig, then we had a massive hotel party and nearly got kicked out.

Duan: We also got part of that prize which was recording a song as well. The song was only supposed to be an acoustic song, but they kind’a let us do what we wanted to do, and that was 21 Days from the album.

Obviously in NZ we love dub and we love roots. How is that music perceived in Oz? Duan: It’s taken on really well here. Last night with Tiki, there were more white people than Kiwis, and everyone was into it. So there is a big market for it here as well.

Mondo: There’s not a great deal of bands doing it. We’re sort of seen as a bit different, in a good way. It might make it easier for us to get attention because there’s not as much competition. And we’ve got a bit of a local following in Manly. When people hear that we’re playing, it puts on a bit of a party

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atmosphere. I think there’s good opportunity in Australia, but it still needs to be marketed or pushed a bit harder than what we can do at the moment, but we’re just gonna keep playing until we can get to that point. ‘Back In The Day’ is great and you guys have been playing quite a bit – have you started thinking what this means now?

Mondo: We’ll be looking to get signed.

Umm‌ one of our mates is in the background snoring, and it’s really distracting. He came to the gig last night and had lots of beers. (Duan disappears into the house.)

Slam: We’ve got a couple of new tunes already that we’ve been doing demos for, and they sound sick man. I’ve got them in the car and can’t stop listening to them.

Mondo: We’re thinking about the next album. You know, something to push the band, but we’re very weary of record deals as well, we’ve had other people try to offer us different contracts that we weren’t happy with. We’ve got an American management company interested.

So we’re talking to people, but we’re also very weary of what’s out there, and what would help the band. If we could keep it independent that would be great. It’s hard to say, but I think if we keep touring, and keep pushing the album, and release some new stuff‌ we’ll take it from there.

Slam: We’re kind’a learning as we’re going.

Seeing other sides of how a business is run, and learning everything the hard way.

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New Zealand Musician magazine’s

2015 The absolutely free one-stop resource for musicians and music industry folk wanting to know just who distributes what, of the many and various brands of musical equipment available here in New Zealand. We’ve even designed it so that you can pull these pages out of the magazine and keep them handy!

The first section is the BRANDS Directory. This provides a simple alphabetical listing of brands available and the companies which import and distribute or, in a few cases, manufacture them.

Brands A-Z A g A -Designs Audio Gear, Protel Internatioanl Technologies, Akld & Wgtn g A bleton Recording Software, Music Link NZ, Akld g A cme Whistles & Sound Effects, Re-Percussion, Chch g A coustic Image Amplifiers for Acoustic Instruments, Pete McGregor Music, Akld g A dam Audio Professional Monitor Speakers, Sound Techniques, Akld g A dams Concert Percussion, Re-Percussion, Chch g A dams Concert Percussion, NZ Rockshop Akld g Adams Brass, KBB Music, Akld g A damson Loudspeaker Systems, Direct Imports, Hastings g A dmira Spanish Classical & Flamenco Guitars, MusicWorks, Akld g A EA Ribbon Microphones, Oceania Audio Sales, Akld g A eromic Fitness Instructors Headsets, Edwards Sound Systems, Akld g A guilar Bass Amps, South Pacific Music Ltd, Akld g A head Armor Drum Bags and Cases, MusicBiz NZ, Akld g A kai Audio Interfaces, Samplers & Drum Machines, MusicBiz NZ, Akld g A KG Professional Microphones, Headphones and Broadcast Headsets, Jands Ltd, Akld g A lbert Weber Pianos & Grand Pianos, South Pacific Music Ltd, Akld g A lbion Guitar and Bass Amplifiers, South Pacific Music Ltd, Akld g A lchemy/Istambul Cymbals, Drum City, Akld g A legria Guitars, Lyn McAllister Music, Akld g A lesis Recording Audio Interfaces, Electronic Percussion, MusicBiz NZ, Akld g A llen Church and Theatre Organs, South Pacific Music Ltd, Akld g A llen & Heath Mixers, Jansen Professional Audio & Lighting, Akld g A lmansa Classical Guitars, South Pacific Music

Ltd, Akld g A lpine Professional Hearing Protection Ear Plugs, MusicWorks, Akld g A lpine Professional Hearing Protection Ear Plugs, www.earbuddies.co.nz g A LTO Live Sound Reinforcement, MusicBiz NZ, Akld g A ltus Flutes, KBB Music, Akld g A lvarez Acoustic Guitars and Ukuleles, South Pacific Music Ltd, Akld g A mpeg Bass and Guitar Amplifiers, Music Link NZ, Akld g A mpetronic Hearing Aid Loop Systems, Hills SVL, Akld g A mphenol Audio Connectors, Livesound , Akld g A MS Power Packs, Hawkes Bay Agencies, Napier g A mptweaker Pedals by designer James Brown, The Amp Shop, Akld g A ndante Pipe Band Drums and Sticks, Re-Percussion, Chch g A ntares, Music Link NZ, Akld g A ntari Fog Machines, Edwards Sound Systems, Akld g A ntelope Audio HD Audio Clocks, Audio Interfaces, Oceania Audio Sales, Akld g A ntigua Saxophones, Trumpets, Flutes & Clarinets, KBB Music, Akld g A part Contracting Speakers, Sennheiser, Akld g A PI Modular Preamps, EQs & Compressors, Oceania Audio Sales, Akld g A pogee Interfaces for iPad/iPhone/MacOS, Protel Int’nl Technologies, Akld & Wgtn g A pplause Acoustic Guitars, NZ Rockshop, Akld g A rturia, Music Link NZ, Akld g A quarian Drum Heads & Accessories, Hawkes Bay Agencies, Napier g A quila Strings, Lyn McAllister Music, Akld g A quila Strings, South Pacific Music, Akld g A ria Guitars & Access., MusicBiz NZ, Akld g A rioso Pianos, KBB Music, Akld g A rmstrong Flutes, KBB Music, Akld g A roma Tuners and Metronomes, Lyn McAllister Music, Akld

Directory

The second section, our DISTRIBUTORS Directory, provides contact details for most of the major local musical equipment distributors. Please note that the brands listed are only those which the companies are official agents for. In some cases companies also co-distribute other lines which are not listed.

NZM has endeavoured to provide as complete and accurate a listing as possible for our readers. Any omissions reflect that some distributors choose not to take part in these listings or have otherwise failed to provide us with the information requested.

g A roma Electronic Tuners, Metronomes and Capos, Musical Import Company, Wgtn g A rt & Lutherie Acoustic Guitars, Music Link NZ, Akld g A RT Pro Audio, STL Audio, Wgtn g A shly Amps & Control, Jansen Professional Audio & Lighting, Akld g A shdown (UK) Amplification, South Pacific Music, Akld g A shton Guitars, Amps, Reinforcement, Drums & Access., MusicWorks, Akld g A stro Drums & Electronic Drums, South Pacific Music, Akld g A TI Audio Distribution and Utility, Protel Int’nl Technologies, Akld & Wgtn g A udient Analogue Consoles & Mic Pres, Protel International Technologies, Akld & Wgtn g A udio-Technica Microphones and Headphones, Jansen Professional Audio & Lighting, Akld g A udix Microphones, NZ Rockshop, Akld g A ugustine Classical Guitar Strings, Hawkes Bay Agencies, Napier g A ulos Recorders, Fifes Pan Pipes, Musical Import Company, Wgtn g A ustralian Monitor Commercial & Pro AV Equipment & Accessories, Hills SVL, Akld g A uviTran Professional Audio Networking Solutions, MusicWorks, Akld g A valon Audio Compressors, Mic Preamps, Studio Equipment, MusicWorks, Akld g A valon Design Pure Class A Signal Processing, Oceania Audio Sales, Akld g A vantonePro Mixcube Monitors & Microphones, Oceania Audio Sales, Akld g A venson Audio Condenser Mics & DIs, Oceania Audio Sales Ltd, Akld g A vid Pro Tools, Controllers, Live Sound, Protel Intnl Technologies Ltd, Akld & Wgtn g A vid Recording Software and Hardware, ProTools, MusicBiz NZ, Akld g A whi Guitar Straps, Lyn McAllister Music, Akld g A XL Electric Guitars and Basses, MusicWorks, Akld g A yotte Custom Drums, NZ Rockshop, Akld g A zumi Flutes, MusicBiz NZ, Akld

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B g B &S Brass, KBB Music, Akld g B abicz Guitars, South Pacific Music, Akld g B ach Brass Instruments, KBB Music, Akld g B ad Cat Amplifiers, South Pacific Music, Akld g B and In A Box Backing Track Software, Computer Music, Akld g B -Bird Capos by Best Music, South Pacific Music Ltd, Akld g B C Rich Guitars, NZ Rockshop, Akld g B eale Grand & Upright Pianos, MusicWorks, Akld g B eans Audio & Dara Cables, Amber Technology (NZ) Ltd, Akld g B echstein Pianos, Upright & Grand, South Pacific Music, Akld g Behringer Audio Equipment, www.galacticmusic. com.au g B elcat Pickups, Amps, Tuners & Effects Pedals, Hawkes Bay Agencies, Napier g B ernstein Pianos, Upright and Grand, South Pacific Music, Akld g B especo MI & Pro Audio Accessories, Direct Imports, Hastings g B eyerdynamic Wireless Mics, Mics, Headphones, Conferencing Systems, and Accessories, Hills SVL, Akld g B IAMP DSP Audio Systems Hills SVL, Akld g B lack Cat Effects Pedals, The Amp Shop, Akld g B lack Diamond Banjo, Guitar, Mandolin & Ukulele Strings, Musical Import Company, Wgtn g B lackstar, Music NZ, Akld g B lue Microphones, Oceania Audio Sales, Akld g B luthner Pianos, South Pacific Music, Akld B g ogner Custom Amplification Amps and Cabs, The Amp Shop, Akld g B oogie Juice Fingerboard Cleaner, Lyn McAllister Music, Akld g B osendorfer Handcrafted Grand Pianos, MusicWorks, Akld g B oss, Music NZ, Akld g B oston Pianos Upright and Grand Pianos, Lewis Eady, Akld g B reedlove, Music NZ, Akld g B rady Drums, NZ Rockshop, Akld g B ricasti Digital Reverb & Audiophile, Protel

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New Zealand Musician magazine’s

Brands cont.

International Technologies, Akld & Wgtn g B ryston Professional Amplifiers, Sennheiser, Akld g B SS Audio Digital and Analogue Signal Processing, Jands Ltd, Akld g B uffet Clarinets and Saxophones, KBB Music, Akld g Bugera Amplifiers, www.galacticmusic.com.au g B url D/A A/D Convertors, 500 Series Preamps, Oceania Audio Sales Ltd, Akld

C g C AD Pro Audio, STL Audio, Wgtn g C akewalk, Music Link NZ, Akld g C alato (Regal/Road) Drumsticks & Brushes, Lyn McAllister Music, Akld g C anare Instrument, Microphone, Video and Data Cables, Connectors and Patch Bays, Amber Technology NZ, Akld g C arlo Giardano Electric Violins, Bows, Musical Import Company Ltd, Wgtn g C arlos Guitars, Banjos, Mandolins, Violins & Bows, Musical Import Co, Wgtn g C asio Keyboards & Digital Pianos, Monaco Corporation, Akld g C ason Tuners, The Violin & Guitar Shop, Akld C g atalinbread Effects Pedals, The Amp Shop, Akld g C BI Cables, Connectors, Stage Snakes and Looms, Multicores, MDR Sound & Lighting, Palmerston North g C edar Audio Restoration, Protel International Technologies, Akld & Wgtn g C entury Drums, Guitars, Access., Percussion, Educational & Leads, South Pacific Music, Akld g C erwin Vega PA Sound Reinforcement, Music Link NZ, Akld g C .G.Conn, KBB Music, Akld g C hameleon Labs Pre-amps & Microphones, Oceania Audio Sales, Akld g C handler Pre-amps, EQs & Compressors, Oceania Audio Sales, Akld g C harvel Guitars, Direct Imports, Hastings g C hauvet Professional High Power LED Fixtures, Moving Heads/Washes, LED Video Walls/Screens, Media Servers, MDR Sound & Lighting Ltd, Palmerston North g C hauvet DJ LED Effect Lights & Access., LED Wash Lights, Lasers, DMX Controllers, LED & Lamped Moving Heads, Fog/Bubble/Dry Ice/Haze, MDR Sound & Lighting, Palmerston North g C hauvet-Trusst Trussing, MDR Sound & Lighting, Palmerston North g C herry Music Lights and Tuners, South Pacific Music, Akld g C hiayo Wireless Mics, Portable PA, Soundfield, Edwards Sound Systems, Akld g C hristopher Double Basses, Pete McGregor Music Double Bass, Akld g C larke Tin Whistles, South Pacific Music, Akld g C lear-Com Wired & Wireless Intercom Systems, Oceania Audio Sales, Akld g C learsonic Transparent Sound Shields and Portable Isolation Booths, Re-Percussion, Chch g C loud Electronics Commercial Audio Systems, Now Sound Ltd, Akld g C loud Mircophones Ribbon Mics and CloudLifter Mic Optimizers, Oceania Audio Sales, Akld g C ME X Key Midi Controller Keyboards, South Pacific Music Ltd, Akld g C nB Cases & Bags, Hawkes Bay Agencies, Napier g C ole Clark Guitars, NZ Rockshop, Akld g C oles Ribbon Microphones, Oceania Audio Sales, Akld g C ooperStands, Lyn McAllister Music, Akld g C orde Classic & Acoustic Guitars, Ukuleles, Violins, So Music, Akld g C ordoba Classical/Flamenco Guitars, NZ Rockshop, Akld g C ountryman & Assoc. DI Boxes & Miniature Mics, Oceania Audio Sales, Akld g C PK Products, Lyn McAllister Music, Akld g C rafter Acoustic & Acoustic/Electric Guitars, South Pacific Music, Akld g C rane Hardware, Music Link NZ, Akld g C remona String Instruments, KBB Music, Akld g C rown Audio Amplifiers Signal Processing, Jands, Akld g C rybaby Pedals, Hawkes Bay Agencies, Napier

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D g D ’Addario Strings and Products, Music Link NZ, Akld g D ’Andrea Guitar Picks & Accessories, South Pacific Music, Akld g D ’Angelico Guitars, South Pacific Music, Akld g D aCappo High Quality Micro Microphones and In-Ear Monitors, MusicWorks, Akld g D anelectro Electric Guitars & Pedals, South Pacific Music, Akld g D arkglass Electronics Bass Pedals, The Amp Shop, Akld g D AS Audio Professional Speaker Systems, Edwards Sound Systems Ltd, Akld g D ava Guitar Picks, Musical Import Co, Wgtn g D ave Smith Analogue and Digital Synthesizers, South Pacific Music, Akld g D avid Gage Realist Pick-up for Double Bass, Pete McGregor Music, Akld g d B Technologies Pro Audio Equipment, Direct Imports, Hastings g d bx Professional Compression & Processing, Jands Ltd, Akld g D Drum Electronic and Acoustic Drums and Drum Triggers, MusicWorks, Akld g D DS Antennas, Consumer Electronics, Pro Audio Accessories, Direct Imports, Hastings g D ean Markley Strings, Pickups and Amps, MusicWorks, Akld g D ecibel Eleven Power Solutions, NZ Rockshop, Akld g D eering Banjos, NZ Rockshop Akld g D enon-Pro Source Players/Recorders, Hills SVL, Akld g D iago Guitar Pedal Boards and Power Supplies, Music Link NZ, Akld g D iamond Head Ukuleles, Lyn McAllister Music, Akld g D ick Stringed Instruments Accessories, Musical Import Company, Wgtn g D igital Projection Laser Projectors, Amber Technology (NZ), Akld g D igitech Processors & Effect Units, Direct Imports, Hastings g D iMarzio Pickups & Guitar Accessories, NZ Rockshop Akld g D irectOut MADI Interfacing, Protel International Technologies, Akld & Wgtn g D irect Sound Extreme Isolation Headphones, Oceania Audio Sales, Akld g D olby Broadcast & Studio Equipment, Sennheiser, Akld g D PA Microphones, Direct Imports, Hastings g D rawmer Valve, Digital & Conventional Signal Processors, Oceania Audio Sales, Akld g D ream Cymbals and Gongs, Re-Percussion, Chch g D reams Of The Forest Guitars, The Violin & Guitar Shop, Akld g D r Parts Guitar Accessories, Hawkes Bay Agencies, Napier g D R Strings, NZ Rockshop, Akld g D r Z Amps, The Amp Shop, Akld g D unlop Guitar Strings & Access, Hawkes Bay Agencies, Napier g D usty Strings, KBB Music, Akld g D W Drums & Hardware, Drum City, Akld g D ynaudio Studio and Broadcast Monitors, Amber Technology (NZ), Akld

E g E .A.R. Earplugs, Hawkes Bay Agencies, Napier g E arprotex Ear Protection NZ Rockshop Akld g E artec Comms Systems, Protel International Technologies, Akld & Wgtn g E arthworks High Definition Microphones, Oceania Audio Sales, Akld g E bow Electronic Bows for Guitars, South Pacific Music, Akld g E clipse Full Colour Laser Range, MDR Sound & Lighting, Palmerston North g E den Electronics Bass Amplification, MusicBiz NZ, Akld g E den Electronics Bass Amplification, Livesound Ltd, Akld g E dirol, Music NZ, Akld g E go Sys Sound Cards and Interfaces, MusicWorks, Akld g E lectro-Harmonix Pedals, Valves & Strings, South Pacific Music, Akld g Electro Voice Loudspeakers and Accessories, MusicWorks, Akld

g E lixir Strings, South Pacific Music, Akld g E MES Professional Studio Monitors, MusicWorks, Akld g E minence Loudspeakers, Livesound, Akld g E mpirical Labs ‘The Distressor’ Compressor, FATSO, Lil Freq EQ and Mike-e, Oceania Audio Sales, Akld g E mpress Effects Effect Pedals, The Amp Shop, Akld g E nduro Cases & Bags, NZ Rockshop, Akld g E NGL All Valve Guitar Amplifiers & Enclosures, MusicWorks, Akld g E quator Audio Studio Monitors, Oceania Audio Sales, Akld g E rnie Ball, Music NZ, Akld g E SP Electric Guitars & Basses, NZ Rockshop, Akld g E ssex Pianos Upright and Grand Pianos, Lewis Eady Ltd, Akld g E vans Drum Heads, Music Link NZ, Akld g E VH Eddie Van Halen Products, Direct Imports, Hastings g E WI Cable & Multicores, South Pacific Music, Akld g E xplorer Cases, Livesound, Akld

F g F actory Metal Percussion, South Pacific Music, Akld g F arida Electric and Acoustic Guitars, Lewis Eady, Akld g F eadog Whistles/Irish, Lyn McAllister Music, Akld g F ender Musical Instruments, Direct Imports, Hastings g F enix Speaker Lifting Towers, Edwards Sound Systems, Akld g F ishman Transducers and Amplifiers, Lyn McAllister Music Ltd, Akld g F itness Audio Wireless Mic Systems, Edwards Sound Systems, Akld g F leet Drum Access., NZ Rockshop, Akld g F loyd Rose Tremolos, MusicWorks, Akld g F MR Audio RNC Compressor, Preamp & Levelling Amp, Oceania Audio Sales, Akld g F ocusrite Audio Interfaces & Recording Hardware, MusicBiz, Akld g F ort Bryan Straps, Guitar & Saxophone, Musical Import Company, Wgtn g F ramus Electric Guitars, NZ Rockshop, Akld g F reedom Cables, The Amp Shop, Akld g F ull Contact Hardware, NZ Rockshop, Akld g F ulltone Pedals, NZ Rockshop, Akld g F unk Logic Rack Trays and Rack Filler, Oceania Audio Sales, Akld g F unktion-One Professional Soundsystems, Full Funktion Audio, Akld

G g G 7th Capos, Lyn McAllister Music Ltd, Akld g G allien Krueger Bass Amplification, MusicBiz NZ Ltd, Akld g G &L Guitars & Basses, South Pacific Music, Akld g G ator Cases & Bags for Drums, Guitar, Keyboard, Racks & Wind Instruments, Musical Import Company Ltd, Wgtn g G ator Frameworks Guitar, Keyboard, Mic and Speaker Stands, Musical Import Co. Ltd, Wgtn g G ator, Music NZ, Akld g G efen Audio and Video Integration Products, Amber Technology (NZ) Ltd, Akld g G emini DJ Products, South Pacific Music, Akld g G en 16 by Zildjian Acoustic/Electric Cymbal System, NZ Rockshop Akld g G enelec Active Studio Monitors, Protel International Technologies Ltd, Akld & Wgtn g G enz-Benz Amplifiers, NZ Rockshop, Akld g G eorge L’s Professional Cables, MusicWorks, Akld g G etzen Cornets, Trumpets & Trombones, KBB Music Ltd, Akld g G HS Guitar Strings & Accessories, South Pacific Music Distributors, Akld g G host Modular Pickup Systems, Hawkes Bay Agencies, Napier g G ibraltar Drum Hardware, NZ Rockshop, Akld g G ibson Les Paul Monitors, Music Link NZ, Akld g G igRig Switching Solutions NZ Rockshop, Akld g G laesel Violins, Cellos & String Accessories, KBB Music, Akld g G odin Electric Guitars, Music Link, Akld g G olden Age Vintage Preamps, Oceania Audio Sales, Akld g Gon Bops Percussion, NZ Rockshop Akld

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Directory 2015 g G otoh Guitar Parts, Lyn McAllister Music, Akld g G raphtech Nuts, Saddles and Bridgepins, Hawkes Bay Agencies, Napier g G reg Bennett Guitars & Basses, South Pacific Music, Akld g G retsch Drums, NZ Rockshop, Akld g G retsch Guitars, Direct Imports, Hastings g G roove Tubes, Direct Imports, Hastings g G rover Pro-Percussion, Re-Percussion, Chch g G rover Guitar & Bass Machine Heads, MusicWorks, Akld g G -Spot Custom Made Guitars & Basses, G-Spot Guitars, Akld g G uitar Pro 6 Tabulature Software, Computer Music, Akld

H g H afler Headphones and Pre-Amps, Amber Technology (NZ) , Akld g H ammond Keyboards, South Pacific Music, Akld g H aosen/Hau Sheng Percussion Instruments Lewis Eady, Akld g H arris Slides, Hawkes Bay Agencies, Napier g H eadstrong Boutique Amps, The Amp Shop, Akld g H ear Technologies Personal Monitor Systems, Protel International Technologies Ltd, Akld & Wgtn g H eil Sound Dynamic Microphones, Oceania Audio Sales Ltd, Akld g H enley Woodwind, So Music Ltd, Akld g H erco Accessories, Hawkes Bay Agencies, Napier g H ercules Instrument & Mic Stands, MusicBiz NZ, Akld g H ewitt‘s Cases and Carbon Products, The Violin & Guitar Shop, Akld g H H Electronics PA Speakers, Monitors & Amplifiers, MusicWorks, Auckland g H idersine Rosins, Musical Import Company Ltd, Wgtn g H idersine, Hills and AB Rosins, Lyn McAllister Music, Akld g H iwatt Amplification, South Pacific Music, Akld g H iwatt All-Valve & Solid State Guitar & Bass Amps & Cabinets, MusicWorks, Akld g H K Audio, Music NZ, Akld g H öfner Violins, Guitars and Basses, KBB Music, Akld g H ohner Harmonicas, Melodicas & Recorders, MusicBiz, Akld g H ohner Accordions, Concertinas, Harmonicas and Recorders, Musical Import Company, Wgtn g H olton French Horns, KBB Music Ltd, Akld g H osa Technology, Music NZ, Akld g H otcake Guitar Effects Pedal, Crowther Audio, Akld g H ot Line Audio Cables, Hawkes Bay Agencies, Napier g H oyer French Horns, KBB Music Ltd, Akld g H Q Percussion, Music Link NZ Ltd, Akld g Humes & Berg Cases & Bags, NZ Rockshop, Akld

I g I banez Guitars, Basses, Acoustics, Effects Pedals, Guitar & Bass Amplifiers, Cables and Bags, MusicWorks, Akld g i Dance Headphone Technology and DJ Products, Direct Imports, Hastings g I lluminarc Architectural LED light fixtures and controllers, MDR Sound & Lighting, Palmerston North g I rmler Pianos, South Pacific Music, Akld g i Rocker Electronic Drums, Direct Imports, Hastings g I SO Acoustics Speaker Stands, Music Link NZ, Akld g I talia Guitars, South Pacific Music, Akld g I TC Audio Public Address and Communication Solutions, MusicWorks, Akld g i Zotope Audio Processing Software, Protel International Technologies, Akld & Wgtn

J g Jam Hub Audio Systems, MusicWorks, Akld g J ammpro MI Products, Direct Imports, Hastings g J argar Strings for Bass, Cello, Violin, Viola, Musical Import Company, Wgtn g JBL Professional Loudspeakers and Studio Monitors, Jands, Akld

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New Zealand Musician magazine’s

g J BL HLA Systems, College Hill Productions, Akld g J DK Mic Pres, EQs & Compressors, Oceania Audio Sales, Akld g J ensen Audio transformers, Pro Audio, Home Theatre, and Video integration Products, Amber Technology NZ, Akld g J J Amplifier Tubes, South Pacific Music, Akld g J J Valves Power & Pre-amp Valves, MusicWorks, Akld g J MI Guitar Amplifiers, MusicWorks, Akld g J . Michael Brass and Wind Instruments, Musical Import Company Ltd, Wgtn g J oe Meek Voice Channels, Stereo Opto Compressors, Diaphragm Mics, Oceania Audio Sales Ltd, Akld g J ohn Walker Tuning Forks, Musical Import Company Ltd, Wgtn g J ohnson Acoustic and Classical Guitars, MusicWorks, Akld g J ohnson Violin Shoulder Rests, Hawkes Bay Agencies, Napier g J ohnson Violin Shoulder Rests, Musical Import Company Ltd, Wgtn g J uno Reeds Student Brass and Woodwind Reeds, MusicWorks, Akld g J upiter Brass & Woodwind Instruments, KBB Music, Akld g J upiter Professional Brass Instruments, MusicBiz NZ, Akld

K g K ala & Makala Ukuleles, Lyn McAllister Music, Akld g K apono Ukuleles, The Violin & Guitar Shop, Akld g K arina Electric & Acoustic Guitars, South Pacific Music, Akld g K awai Pianos, KBB Music, Akld g K eilwerth Saxophones, KBB Music, Akld g K eith McMillen Batt-O-Meter Battery Tester, Musical Import Company, Wgtn g K emper Profiling Amplifier, MusicWorks, Akld g K & K Transducers, Pete McGregor Music, Akld g K ohler & Campbell Acoustic & Digital Pianos, South Pacific Music Distributors, Akld g K & M Music, Microphone, Speaker, Instrument Stands, Livesound, Auckland g K nabe Upright and Grand Pianos, South Pacific Music, Akld g K org Keyboards, Synthesisers, Guitar Effects, Tuners, Recording, South Pacific Music, Akld g K oyama Ukuleles, NZ Rockshop Akld g K rank Amplifiers, South Pacific Music, Akld g K RK Studio Monitors and Headphones, Music Link NZ, Akld g K urzweil Synthesisers, Digital Pianos, Keyboards, South Pacific Music, Akld g K ush Audio Innovative EQs, Compressors, Oceania Audio Sales, Akld g K v2 Audio Sound Reinforcement, Protel Intnl Technologies Ltd, Akld & Wgtn g K .Yairi Guitars, South Pacific Music, Akld g K yser Capos and Strings, Lyn McAllister Music, Akld

L g L -Acoustics Concert Systems, Hills SVL, Akld g L -Acoustics Sound Systems, College Hill Productions Ltd, Akld g L ab Gruppen Amplifiers, Hills SVL, Akld g L AG Guitars, Hawkes Bay Agencies, Napier g L ake Speaker Management Systems, Hills SVL, Akld g L akewood Acoustic Guitars, NZ Rockshop, Akld g L amba PLC Lighting and Music Accessories, South Pacific Music, Akld g Laney Guitar amplification and PA, MusicWorks, Akld g L anikai Ukuleles, Musical Import Co. Ltd, Wgtn g L anikai Ukuleles, MusicBiz NZ, Akld g L a Patrie Acoustic Guitars, Music Link NZ, Akld g L arrivée Guitars, South Pacific Music, Akld g L aserworld Swiss Laser Lights, MDR Sound & Lighting, Palmerston North g L atin Percussion, NZ Rockshop, Akld g L auten Audio, STL Audio, Wgtn g L ava Cable Cables for Instruments and Pedalboards, The Amp Shop, Akld

g L awo Digital Consoles, Routers, Protel International Technologies, Akld & Wgtn g L eblanc Clarinets, KBB Music, Akld g L ectrosonics Inc Radio Microphones, IFB Systems, Sound Techniques, Akld g L ee Oskar Harmonicas, MusicWorks, Akld g L eem Audio Accessories, Hawkes Bay Agencies, Napier g L eslie Tone Cabinets, South Pacific Music, Akld g L evys Leathers Guitar Straps, Bags, MusicWorks, Akld g L ewitt Microphones, Protel International Technologies, Akld & Wgtn g L exicon Professional Reverb, Digital Signal Processing, Recording Interfaces, Jands, Akld g L indell Audio Audio Processors, Oceania Audio Sales, Akld g L ine 6 Guitar Amps, Effects, Guitars and Sound Reinforcement, Music Link NZ, Akld g L ittle Labs Engineers Tools, Protel International Technologies, Akld & Wgtn g L ivesound Roadcases & Racks, Livesound Ltd, Akld g L M Guitar Straps, Lyn McAllister Music Ltd, Akld g L ockit Straps for all Instruments, South Pacific Music Ltd, Akld g L OOG Guitars, Direct Imports, Hastings g L os Cabos Drumsticks, Hawkes Bay Agencies, Napier g L R Baggs Acoustic Pickups, NZ Rockshop, Akld g L SC Lighting Consoles, Control and Dimmers, Hills SVL, Akld g L ucky 13 Guitar Straps, Hawkes Bay Agencies, Napier g L udwig Drums, NZ Rockshop, Akld

M g M -Audio Audio Interfaces, Studio Monitors, Microphones and MIDI Controller Keyboards, MusicBiz NZ, Akld g M ackie Sound Reinforcement, Music Link NZ, Akld g M ahalo Ukuleles & Ukulele Guitars, Hawkes Bay Agencies, Napier g M ajestic Concert Percussion, KBB Music, Akld g M ajestic Band Percussion Instruments, MusicBiz NZ, Akld g M anhassett Orchestral Stands and Accessories, MusicWorks, Akld g M annix Electric Guitars, Bass, Amps, PA, So Music, Akld g M apex Drums, Hardware and Accessories, MusicBiz NZ, Akld g M arshall Guitar & Bass Amplification, MusicBiz NZ, Akld g M arshall Headphones and HiFI Amplification, Amber Technology (NZ), Akld g M artin / Darco Guitars, Strings & Access., Lyn McAllister Music, Akld g M atamp Amps and Cabs, The Amp Shop, Akld g M aui Xaphoon Pocket Saxophones, South Pacific Music, Akld g M axtone Drums & Access., Hawkes Bay Agencies, Napier g M axtone Guitar Access., Percussion, Musical Import Company, Wgtn g M cDSP Processing Plug-Ins, Protel International Technologies, Akld & Wgtn g M DR Fog Fuel, Bubble Fluids, MDR Sound & Lighting, Palmerston North g M edeli, Music NZ, Akld g M edeli Keyboards, Electronic Drum Kits & Digital Pianos, Drum and Guitar Amps, Musical Import Company, Wgtn g M edia Matrix Hearing Assistance, Hills SVL, Akld g M einl Cymbals and Percussion, MusicBiz NZ, Akld g Meinl Weston Brass, KBB Music, Akld g M esa Boogie Amplifiers, NZ Rockshop, Akld g M etric HaloLab Hi-res I/O and Processing, Protel Int’nl Technologies, Akld & Wgtn g M eyer Mouthpieces, KBB Music, Akld g M I Audio Amps and Effects Pedals, The Amp Shop, Akld g M icrotech Gefell German Microphones, Oceania Audio Sales, Akld g M iditech Midi Keyboards and Audio Interfaces, South Pacific Music, Akld g M ighty Bright Music Lights, South Pacific Music, Akld g M ike Balter Percussion Mallets, Re-Percussion, Chch g M ipro Wireless Mics and PA Systems, Hills SVL, Akld

g M i-Si Transducers, Lyn McAllister Music, Akld g M ission Engineering Premium Expression Pedals, The Amp Shop, Akld g M JM FX Effects Pedals, The Amp Shop, Akld g M odTone Effects Pedals and Power Supplies, The Amp Shop, Akld g M ogami Cables, MusicWorks, Akld g M ojave Audio Fet & Tube Microphones, Oceania Audio Sales, Akld g M ooer Effects Pedals, NZ Rockshop Akld g M oog Analogue Synthesisers and FX, MusicBiz NZ, Akld g M orley Wah Pedals & Effects, MusicWorks, Akld g M orpheus DropTune, Capo & Bomber Pitchshifting Effects, MusicWorks, Akld g M TD Michael Tobias Design Bass Guitars, Music Link NZ, Akld g M ullard Amplifier Tubes, South Pacific Music, Akld g M uramatsu Flutes, KBB Music, Akld g M usic Nomad Equipment Care, MusicBiz NZ, Akld g M usition Theory Training Software, Computer Music Ltd, Akld g M usser Percussion, KBB Music, Akld g M usser Concert Percussion, NZ Rockshop, Akld g M XR Pedals, Hawkes Bay Agencies, Napier g M XL Studio & Live Condenser Microphones, MusicWorks, Akld g M yMix Personal Mixer/Recorder for In-Ear Monitoring, MDR Sound & Lighting, P. North

N g N ative Instruments DJ Gear, Software and Hardware, Music Link NZ, Akld g N eotech Straps & Slings, Lyn McAllister Music, Akld g N eumann Microphones, Sennheiser, Akld g N eutrik Connectors & Patch Bays, Amber Technology (NZ), Akld g N ikko Metronomes, MusicWorks, Akld g N ord Electric Piano, Organs, Synths, Drum Synths, MusicBiz NZ, Akld g N ovation USB/MIDI Software Controllers and Keyboards, MusicBiz NZ, Akld g N S Design Electronic Stringed Instruments, MusicBiz NZ, Akld g N TI Audio Professional Audio Generators, Analysis and Noise Measurement Solutions, Amber Technology (NZ), Akld g N ugen Audio Metering & Level Control, Protel International Technologies, Akld & Wgtn g N umark DJ Mixers, CD/Media Players, DJ Software Controllers, Cartridges & Accessories, MusicBiz NZ, Akld g Nuvo Clarinéo and Flute, KBB Music, Akld

O g O bonda Guitars, The Violin & Guitar Shop, Akld g O dyssey DJ & Hi Tech Road Cases, MusicBiz NZ, Akld g O hana Ukuleles, Lyn McAllister Music, Akld g O ktava Condenser & Ribbon Mics, Oceania Audio Sales, Akld g O n Stage Stands, Livesound, Akld g O n Stage Stands & Stools, Musical Import Company, Wtgn g O ptoma Home Theatre Projectors, Amber Technology (NZ), Akld g O ptogate Microphone Gates, Livesound, Akld g O tto Link Mouthpieces, KBB Music, Akld g O vation Guitars, NZ Rockshop, Akld

P g P aiste Cymbals, Sounds, Gongs & Cymbal Accessories, MusicWorks, Akld g P alatino Violins, Violas, Cellos, Basses and String Accessories, MusicWorks, Akld g P alatino Stringed Instruments, Lewis Eady, Akld g P almer Audio Tools and Pro Audio Equipment, MusicWorks, Akld g P asgao Wireless Mic Systems, Livesound, Akld g P bone & Ptrumpet, KBB Music, Akld g P DP Drums and Hardware, Drum City, Akld g P earl River Pianos, MusicWorks, Akld g P earl Flutes & Piccolos, KBB Music, Akld g P earl Drums, Music Link NZ, Akld

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Directory 2015 g P eace Drums, Direct Imports, Hastings g P eavey AA DSP Control Systems incl. DSP Processors and Pro Audio Tools MediaMatrix, Hills SVL, Akld g P edalTrain Guitar Effect Pedalboards, MusicWorks, Akld g P edalTrain Guitar Effect Pedalboards, South Pacific Music, Akld g P enn Fabrication Roadcase, Speaker Cabinet, Hardware Black Mount Systems, Livesound, Akld g P ete Schmidt Artisan Leather Guitar Straps, Musical Import Company, Wgtn g P eterson Strobe & Virtual Strobe Tuners, Re-Percussion, Chch g P hil Jones Bass Amplification, Pete McGregor Music, Akld g P ianoDisc Player Systems, South Pacific Music, Akld g P ickboy Guitar Picks, Tuners, Musical Import Company Ltd, Wgtn g P igtronix Effects Pedals, The Amp Shop, Akld g P ioneer DJ Products, Monaco Corp, Akld g P irastro Strings for Bass, Cello, Viola & Violin, Musical Import Company, Wgtn g P irastro Strings, KBB Music, Akld g P lanet Waves Guitar Accessories, Cables, Straps, Tuners, Music Link NZ, Akld g P latinum Stands, Hawkes Bay Agencies, Napier g P layers Woodwind, Brass Access., Lyn McAllister Music, Akld g P MM Double Basses & Flight Cases, Pete McGregor Music, Akld g P oellman Double Bass, Pete McGregor Music, Akld g P ops Rosins, Pete McGregor Music Double Bass, Akld g P ower Tech Cables, Hawkes Bay Agencies, Napier g P remier Drums and Percussion, South Pacific Music, Akld g P resonus Audio Electronics Mic Pre-Amps, Interfaces & Dynamic Processors Digital Mixers and DAWs, Oceania Audio Sales, Akld g P rimacoustic Acoustic Treatment for Studios and Acoustic Space, Amber Technology, Akld g P rim Violin & Cello Strings, South Pacific Music Distributors, Akld g P rinted Music (all Publishers), Musical Import Company, Wgtn g P roCo Multicores & Bulk Cable, RAT Distortion Pedals, Oceania Audio Sales, Akld g P roel Sound Systems & Music Accessories, Jansen Professional Audio & Lighting, Akld g P roMark Drum Sticks, Drum City, Akld g P roMark Drum Sticks, Music Link NZ, Akld g P ropellerhead Recording Software & Hardware, Music Link NZ, Akld g P roRockGear Guitar, Bass and Drum Cases, MusicWorks, Akld g P rotection Drum/Percussion Cases & Bags, MusicBiz NZ, Akld g P RS Guitars, MusicBiz NZ, Akld g Pulse and Chang Cymbals, So Music, Akld g P urple Audio 500 Series Preamps and EQs, Oceania Audio Sales, Akld g P uresound Drum Access., Music Link NZ, Akld g P yramid Strings for Violin, Cello, Double Bass & Guitar, Lyn McAllister Music, Akld

Q g Q SC Amplifiers, Loudspeakers, Digital & Analogue Signal Processing, Now Sound, Akld g Q ue Audio Microphones, MusicWorks, Akld g Q uest Engineering Loudspeaker Systems & Amplifiers, Livesound, Akld g Q uiklok Stands and Accessories, MusicBiz NZ, Akld

R g R adial Engineering DIs, Guitar FX, 500 Series Modules and Racks, Amber Technology, Akld g R amirez Classical and Flamenco Guitars, South Pacific Music, Akld g R ampone & Cazzani Saxophones, KBB Music, Akld g R apco Cables, Musical Import Co., Wgtn g R CF Pro Audio, Direct Imports, Hastings g R ecording King Banjos, Resonator Guitars and Mandolins, MusicWorks, Akld g R ecording King Guitars and Folk Instruments, Lewis Eady, Akld

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Brands cont. g R eeds Australia Reeds for Clarinets, Saxophones & Access., Hawkes Bay Agencies, Napier gR emo, Music NZ, Akld g R enkus-Heinz Commercial & Pro Audio Loudspeaker Systems, Hills SVL, Akld g R evolabs Conferencing Mic Solutions, Hills SVL, Akld g R evolution Solo Transducers for Double Bass, Pete McGregor Music, Akld g R hythm Tech Percussion, Lyn McAllister Music, Akld g R ickenbacker Electric Guitars and Basses, South Pacific Music Ltd, Akld g R ico, Rico Royal, La Voz, Mitchellhurie, Hemke, Plasticover Reeds, Lyn McAllister Music Ltd, Akld g R ico Accessories, Lyn McAllister Music Ltd, Akld g R ico Reeds, Music Link NZ, Akld g R ico Reeds, Access. and Mouthpieces, Musical Import Company Ltd, Wgtn g R iedel RockNet Networked Audio, Protel International Technologies Ltd, Akld & Wgtn g R itmuller Pianos, MusicWorks, Akld g R itter Musical Instrument Bags, Direct Imports, Hastings g R ME Audio, Professional Studio Audio Interfaces & Soundcards, MusicWorks, Akld g R ockbag and Rockcase Bag and Cases, NZ Rockshop, Akld g R ockcable Leads, NZ Rockshop, Akld g R ockhouse Mixer Systems for Schools, MusicWorks, Akld g R ockstand Instrument Support, NZ Rockshop, Akld g R ock-Tips Liquid Callus Formula, Musical Import Company, Wgtn g R ocktron Guitar Effects, South Pacific Music, Akld g R oc n Soc Seating, Re-Percussion, Chch gR øde, Music NZ, Akld gR oland, Music NZ, Akld g R oll Music Stereo Compressor, Folcrum Bus Mixer, Oceania Audio Sales, Akld g R oss Mallet Percussion, KBB Music, Akld g R otosound Banjo, Cello, Guitar, Bass, Mandolin, Ukulele, Viola and Violin Strings, Musical Import Company, Wgtn g Rotosound Strings, MusicWorks, Akld g R ovner Ligatures, KBB Music, Akld g R oyer Labs Ribbon Microphones, Oceania Audio Sales Ltd, Akld g Ryan Drums & Percussion, So Music, Akld g Rycote Microphone Wind Protection, Sennheiser, Akld

S g S abian Cymbals, Music Link NZ, Akld g S aga Stringed Instruments (Regal, Rover, Kentucky, Gitane), Lyn McAllister Music Ltd, Akld g S amick Guitars, Electronics, Musical Instruments, South Pacific Music, Akld g S amson Technologies Audio & MI Products, Direct Imports, Hastings g S anken Microphones, Sound Techniques, Akld g Sankyo Flutes, KBB Music, Akld g S avarez Classical Strings, Lyn McAllister Music Ltd, Akld g S axholder Saxophone Harnesses, KBB Music, Akld g S challer Straplocks, Lyn McAllister Music Ltd, Akld g S checter Electric Guitars, Basses and Acoustics, MusicWorks, Akld g S cherl & Roth Violins, Violas, Cellos, Double Basses, KBB Music, Akld g S chertler Amplification, Pete McGregor Music, Akld g S cherzer Trumpets, KBB Music, Akld g S chimmel Pianos, South Pacific Music, Akld g S chilke Trumpets & Cornets, KBB Music, Akld g S choeps Modular Condenser Mics & Accessories, Oceania Audio Sales Ltd, Akld g S chrieber Bassoons, KBB Music, Akld g S cotty Kazoos & Guitar Access, Hawkes Bay Agencies, Napier g s E Electronics Microphones, Studio Monitors and Accessories, Amber Technology Ltd, Akld g S eagull Acoustic Guitars Cymbals, Music Link NZ, Akld g S eiko Tuners & Metronomes, Hawkes Bay Agencies, Napier

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K:G=L :G= BLMKB;NMHKL g S elmer USA Woodwind, Brass & Accessories, KBB Music, Akld g S ennheiser Microphones & Headphones, Sennheiser, Akld g S eydel Germany Harmonicas, Harps, South Pacific Music, Akld g S eymour Duncan Guitar Pickups, Bassline & Antiquity Series, South Pacific Music, Akld g S hadow Pickups and Accessories, Hawkes Bay Agencies, Napier g S hadow Hills HQ Mic Pres, Compressors, Oceania Audio Sales, Akld g S himro Violins, Cellos, Violas, Double Basses, KBB Music, Akld g S himro Double Basses, Pete McGregor Music, Akld g S hore Guitars, The Violin & Guitar Shop, Akld g S GM Professional Lighting, Direct Imports, Hastings g S hubb Capos, Lyn McAllister Music, Akld g S hure Microphones, Headphones, Earphones and Mixers, Now Sound, Akld g S ibelius Notation Software, Computer Music, Akld g S igma Guitars, Lyn McAllister Music, Akld g S ignal Sender Cables & Audio Access., Hawkes Bay Agencies, Napier g Silvertone Custom Cables, College Hill Productions, Akld g S ilvertone Guitars, Hawkes Bay Agencies, Napier g S imon and Patrick Acoustic Guitars, Music Link NZ, Akld g S IT Guitar, Bass, Banjo, Mandolin Strings, South Pacific Music, Akld g S KB MMI, Pro & Camera Cases, Direct Imports, Hastings g S nark Tuners and Metronomes, South Pacific Music, Akld g S olid State Logic (SSL) Analogue and Digital Studio Equipment, Amber Technology NZ, Akld g S ommer Cable Audio and Video Cables, Livesound, Akld g S onnox Audio Processing Software, Protel International Technologies, Akld & Wgtn g S onor Drums & Percussion, NZ Rockshop, Akld g S oundcraft Digital & Analogue Mixing Consoles, Jands, Akld g S ound Devices Portable Recorders, Mixers, USB Mic Pres, Sound Techniques, Akld g S oundsphere Commercial Speaker Systems, Hills SVL, Akld g S oundToys Pro-Effects Plug-Ins, Protel International Technologies, Akld & Wgtn g S ource Audio Effects, NZ Rockshop, Akld g S ovtek Amplifier Tubes, South Pacific Music, Akld g S pector Basses, South Pacific Music, Akld g S pectrasonics Virtual Instruments, Protel International Technologies Ltd, Akld & Wgtn g S pider Capo Partial Capos, So Music, Akld g S PL Professional Processing Solutions, Protel Intnl Technologies Ltd, Akld & Wgtn g S plawn Hot-rodded Marshall-style Amps and Cabs, The Amp Shop, Akld g S quier Instruments, Direct Imports, Hastings g S t Antonio Violins, Cellos, Violas, Double Basses, KBB Music, Akld g S tagg Musical Instruments and Accessories, South Pacific Music, Akld g S tanton DJ Equipment, Music Link NZ, Akld g S tedman Steel Pop Screens, Oceania Audio Sales Ltd, Akld g S teinberg Studio Software, Nuendo, Cubase and Audio Interfaces, MusicWorks, Akld g S teinway and Sons Upright and Grand Pianos, Lewis Eady Ltd, Akld g S terling, Music NZ, Akld g S trymon Guitar Pedals, South Pacific Music, Akld g S tuder Broadcast Consoles, Jands Ltd, Akld g S tudio Devil Amp Modelling Studio Software, MusicWorks, Akld g S tudio Projects Condenser Microphones, Mic Pre-amps and Accessories, Oceania Audio Sales Ltd, Akld g S ummit Audio Valve Mic Pre-Amps, Compressors, EQs, Oceania Audio Sales, Akld g S upro Amplifiers, The Amp Shop, Akld g S uziki Musical Instruments, South Pacific Music Ltd, Akld g S vetlana Amplifier Tubes, South Pacific Music, Akld g S wart Amps and Cabs, The Amp Shop, Akld

g S X Acoustic & Electric Guitars, Banjos, & Harmonicas, Hawkes Bay Agencies, Napier

T g T akamine Guitars & Basses, NZ Rockshop, Akld g T ama Drums, Hardware, Sticks, Bags & Accessories, MusicWorks, Akld g T anglewood Guitars, Banjos, Ukuleles, Mandolins, Musical Import Co. , Wgtn g T annoy Studio Studio Speakers and Monitors, Amber Technology NZ, Akld g Tannoy Loudspeakers, Hills SVL, Akld g T ascam Professional Recording Equipment, Direct Imports, Hastings g T aye Drums & Hardware, South Pacific Music, Akld g T aylor Guitars, MusicBiz NZ, Akld g T C Electronic Guitar, Vocal, FX, Music and Broadcasting Equipment, Amber Technology NZ, Akld g T C Helicon Vocal and Guitar Processing, Microphones and Personal PA, Amber Technology NZ, Akld g T eac Consumer Electronics, Direct Imports, Hastings g T ech 21 Amps & Effects, NZ Rockshop, Akld g T elefunken Elektroakustic, STL Audio, Wgtn g T erry Gould Capos, Lyn McAllister Music, Akld g T he Loar Guitars and Folk Instruments, Lewis Eady Ltd, Akld g T he String Cleaner, So Music, Akld g T homastik Strings (Bass, Guitar, Cello, Viola, Violin), Musical Import Company, Wgtn g T oa Commercial Audio Solutions, Hills SVL, Akld g T oca Percussion, NZ Rockshop, Akld g T oft Audio Products, Mixers, Mic Pre-amps, EQs & Compressors, Oceania Audio Sales, Akld g T onelux, Recording Consoles And Modules, Oceania Audio Sales, Akld g T rabes Towers & Trussing, Direct Imports, Hastings g T raveller Guitars, NZ Rockshop Akld g T revor James Brass and Woodwind Instruments, Lewis Eady, Akld g T Rex Boutique Guitar and Bass Effects Pedals, MusicWorks, Akld g T riad Orbit Mic Stands and Accessories, Oceania Audio Sales, Akld g T rident Audio Designs Mixers and Studio Monitors, Oceania Audio Sales, Akld g T rigger Capos, Hawkes Bay Agencies, Napier g T une-Bot Electronic Drum Tuner, NZ Rockshop, Akld g T ung-Sol Tubes, South Pacific Music Akld g T urbosound Pro Audio Loudspeaker Systems, Hills SVL, Akld g T ycoon Percussion, Hawkes Bay Agencies, Napier

U g U kau Ukuleles, The Violin & Guitar Shop, Akld g U FIP Cymbals, South Pacific Music, Akld g U ltimate Stands for Speakers, Keyboards and Lighting, MusicWorks, Akld g U ltimate Ears Custom In-Ear Monitors, Acoustix Hearing Ltd, Akld g U ltimate Support Stands, Music Link NZ, Akld g U ltrasone Professional Headphones, Livesound Ltd, Akld g U ltrasound Acoustic Amplifiers and DI Boxes, MusicWorks, Auckland g U nderwood Bass transducers, Pete McGregor Music, Akld g U niversal Audio Recording Equipment, Music Link NZ, Akld

V g V alencia Classical Guitars, Mandolins & Violins, Hawkes Bay Agencies, Napier g V alley People Compressors and Gates, Oceania Audio Sales Ltd, Akld g V andoren Reeds, MusicWorks, Akld g V arta Batteries, South Pacific Music, Akld g V ater Drumsticks & Access.,MusicBiz NZ, Akld g V -DOSC Network Partner, College Hill Productions Ltd, Akld g V eillette Guitars and Basses, MusicBiz NZ, Akld g V erellen Amps Amps, The Amp Shop, Akld g V estax Turntables, DJ Mixers & Accessories, South Pacific Music, Akld

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Directory 2015 g V ic Firth Drum Sticks, Music Link NZ, Akld g V icousitc Studio Sound Treatment Panels, MusicWorks, Akld g V intage Electric and Acoustic Guitars, MusicBiz NZ, Akld g V iolet Design Microphones, Protel International Technologies Ltd, Akld & Wgtn g V isual Sound Effects & Power Solutions, NZ Rockshop, Akld g V oodoo Labs Effects & Power Solutions, NZ Rockshop, Akld g V ox Guitar & Bass Amplifiers, South Pacific Music Distributors, Akld

W g W alden Acoustic Guitars, MusicBiz NZ, Akld g W aldorf Synthesizers, South Pacific Music Distributors, Akld g W altons Bodhrans, Whistles & Irish Print Music, Hawkes Bay Agencies, Napier g W arm Audio Mic Preamps, Compressors and EQs, Oceania Audio Sales, Akld g W arwick Basses/Amps, NZ Rockshop, Akld g W aves Audio Processing Software, Protel International Technologies, Akld & Wgtn g W ay Huge Pedals, Hawkes Bay Agencies, Napier g W azinator Acoustic Stompboxes, NZ Rockshop, Akld g W eber Pianos, South Pacific Music Ltd, Akld g W ekaWire Audio & Control Installation Cable & Connectors, Now Sound Ltd, Akld g W estpoint Brass Instruments Trumpets, Cornets, Flugels, Trombones, So Music, Akld g W harfedale Pro Audio Equipment, South Pacific Music, Akld g W hirlwind Cables and Connectors, Now Sound Ltd, Akld g W i WiFi Mics and Recording Equipment, MusicWorks, Akld g W illiams Sound Hearing Assistance, Hills SVL, Akld g W ilson Pick-up for Double Bass, Pete McGregor Music, Akld g W indtech Windshields & Microphone Accessories, Sound Techniques, Akld g W ittner Metronomes, Music Stands, String Access, Musical Import Co Ltd, Wgtn g W olf Violin & Viola Shoulder Rests, Musical Import Company, Wellington g W olverton Amps, The Amp Shop, Akld g W risties Wrist Warmers, So Music, Akld g W under Audio Mics & Preamps, Oceania Audio Sales Ltd, Akld

X g X32 Digital Mixers, www.galacticmusic.com.au g X aphoon Pocket Saxophones, South Pacific Music, Akld g X ilica Audio Design Digital Processors for Loudspeakers and Audio Installations, Livesound Ltd, Akld g X ilica Professional High-Performance DSP Systems, MusicWorks, Akld g X M Drum Electronic Drums, Digital Drums, So Music, Akld g X otic Pedals, NZ Rockshop, Akld

Y g Y amaha Guitars, Basses, Acoustic & Classical Guitars, Keyboards, Pianos, Synths, PA, Synthesisers, Digital Mixers, Audio interfaces, Drums & Hardware, Brass & Woodwind, Instrument Accessories, MusicWorks, Akld g Y anagisawa Saxophones, KBB Music, Akld

Z g Z axcom Digital Encrypted Wireless/Recording, Protel International Technologies Ltd, Akld & Wgtn g Z ildjian Cymbals/Drumsticks, NZ Rockshop, Akld g Z T Amplifiers Lunchbox Amps, The Amp Shop, Akld g 2 Box Digital Drums, South Pacific Music, Akld g 6 5Amps Amps and Cabs, classic tones, The Amp Shop, Akld

Distributors Listings Matamp Handmade Amps and Cabs MI Audio Amps and Effects Pedals Mission Engineering Premium Expression

Pedals

Contact: Thomas M端ller Address: 437 Remuera Road, Remuera, Auckland 1050

Phone: (09) 520 5648 or 0800 000652 Fax: (09) 281 3510 Website: www.acoustixhearing.co.nz Email: hearing@acoustixhearing.co.nz Brands Distributed: Ultimate Ears Custom In-Ear Monitors

Amber Technology (NZ) Ltd

Contact: Ross Turner Address: 3/77 Porana Road, Glenfield, Auckland Phone: (09) 443 0753 Email: sales@amber.co.nz Website: www.amber.co.nz Facebook: ambertechnologynz Brands Distributed: TC Electronic Guitar FX, Music and Broadcast

MJM FX Effects Pedals, specialising in Brit-style fuzz ModTone Effects Pedals and Power Supplies Pigtronix Effects Pedals Splawn Hot-rodded Marshall-style Amps and Cabs Supro Amplifiers Swart Amps Amps and Cabs Verellen Amps Amps Wolverton Amps Custom Amps made in NZ ZT Amplifiers Lunchbox Amps

Contact: Brogan Fraser Address: PO Box 47 777, Ponsonby, Auckland Phone: (09) 820 4319 Email: brogan@collegehill.co.nz Website: www.collegehill.co.nz Brands Distributed: JBL HLA Systems L-ACOUSTICS Sound Systems Silvertone Custom Cables V-DOSC Network Partner

Contact: Ryan Thomas Phone: 021 599 643 Email: ryan@ampshop.co.nz Website: www.ampshop.co.nz Facebook: /TheAmpShopLtd Address: 237 Symonds St, Eden Terrace, Auckland

Brands Distributed: 65Amps Amps and Cabs, classic tones Amptweaker Pedals by designer James Brown Black Cat Effects Pedals, specialising in fuzz Bogner Custom Amplification Amps and Cabs Catalinbread Effects Pedals Darkglass Electronics Pedals for Bass Dr Z Amps Empress Effects Effects Pedals Freedom Cables Instrument and Speaker Cables, handmade in NZ

Headstrong Amps Lava Cable Cables for Instruments and

Contact: David Neil Address: PO Box 12-834, Penrose, Auckland 1642

Phone: (09) 571 0551 Fax: (09) 579 3746 Email: dave@edwardsnz.co.nz Website: www.edwardsnz.co.nz Brands Distributed: Aeromic Fitness Instructor Headsets Antari Fog Machines Chiayo Wireless Mics, Portable PA D.A.S Audio Speakers Line array Fenix Speaker Lifting Towers Fitness Audio Wireless Mic Systems

Contact: Paul Edlin Address: PO Box 10-7070, Auckland Airport, Auckland Phone: (09) 275 8710 Fax: (09) 275 8790 Email: pedlin@jands.co.nz Website: www.jands.co.nz

Brands Distributed: AKG Professional Microphones, Headphones

and Broadcast Headsets BSS Audio Digital and Analogue Signal Processing Crown Audio Amplifiers, Signal Processing dbx Professional Compression, Processing JBL Professional Loudspeakers and Studio Monitors Lexicon Professional Reverb, Digital Signal Processing, Recording Interfaces Soundcraft Digital & Analogue Mixing Consoles Studer Broadcast Consoles

Contact: Paul Goldsmith Address: 5 Monomeeth Drive Mitcham Vic,

3132 Australia Phone: (09) 887 1097 Email: paul.goldsmith@galacticmusic.com.au Website: www.galacticmusic.com.au Facebook: /galacticmusicoceania

Brands Distributed:

Equipment

TC Helicon Vocal and Guitar Processing, Microphones and Personal PA Solid State Logic (SSL) Professional and Broadcast Analogue and Digital Studio Equipment.

Radial Engineering DI, Re-Amping, Splitters, Interfaces and 500 Series Modules and Racks Neutrik Connectors and Patch Bays Primacoustic Acoustic Treatment for Studios and Acoustic Spaces Dynaudio Studio and Broadcast Monitors Tannoy Studio Studio Monitor Speakers sE Electronics Microphones and Accessories.

Canare Cables, Connectors and Patch Bays NTI Audio Audio Generators, Analysis and Noise Measurement solutions Marshall Headphones and HiFi Amplification Jensen Transformers Audio Transformers, Pro Audio, Home Theatre and Video Integration Products Beans Cables Audio and Data Cables.

Hafler Headphone and Phono Pre-Amps Gefen Audio and video integration products Optoma Home Theatre Projectors DLP Digital Projection Laser Projectors

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Behringer Audio Equipment Bugera Amplifiers X32 Digital Mixers

Address: 15C Vestey Drive, Mt Wellington PO Box 97546, Manukau

Phone: Hills SVL (09) 415 9426 Phone: APG 0800 111450 Email: nz@hillssvl.co.nz, sales@audioproduct.co.nz Websites: www.hillssvl.com.au, www.audioproducts.co.nz

Contact: Brett Dallas, Greer Compston Address: PO Box 72, Hastings, Hawkes Bay Phone: (06) 873 0129 Fax: (06) 878 2760 Email: misales@direct-imports.co.nz Websites: www.directimports.co.nz, www.reboxed.co.nz

Brands Distributed: Adamson Loudspeaker Systems Bespeco MI & Pro Audio Accessories Charvel Guitars dB Technologies Pro Audio Equipment DDS Antennas, Consumer Electronics, Pro Audio

Accessories Digitech Processors & Effects Units DPA Professional Microphones EVH Eddie Van Halen Products Fender Musical Instruments Gretsch Guitars Groove Tubes iDance Headphone Technology and DJ Products iRocker Electronic Drums Jammpro MI Products LOOG Guitars Peace Drums RCF Pro Audio Ritter Musical Instrument Bags Samson Technologies Audio & MI Products SGM Professional Lighting SKB MI, Pro & Camera Cases Squier Musical Instruments Tascam Professional Recording Equipment Teac Consumer Electronics Trabes Towers and Trussing

Contact: Peter Glenn (Sales Manager) Address: Pukekohe, Auckland Phone: 021 265 4222 Email: peter@fullfunktion.co.nz Website: www.fullfunktion.co.nz Brands Distributed: Funktion-One Professional Audio Speaker

Hawkes Bay Agencies

Contact: Rob Magnus Address: PO Box 747, Napier Phone: (06) 834 4075 Fax: (06) 834 0552 Email: sales@hba.co.nz Website: www.hba.co.nz Brands Distributed: AMS Power Packs Aquarian Drum Heads & Access.

Augustine Classical Guitar Strings Belcat Pickups, Amplifiers, Tuners & Effect Pedals CnB Cases & Bags Crybaby Pedals Dr Parts Guitar Accessories Dunlop Guitar Strings & Accessories E.A.R. Earplugs Ghost Modular Pickup Systems Graphtech Nuts, Saddles and Bridgepins Harris Slides Herco Brass and Wind Accessories Hot Line Audio Cables Johnson Violin Shoulder Rests LAG Guitars Leem Audio Accessories Los Cabos Drumsticks Lucky 13 Guitar Straps Mahalo Ukuleles & Ukulele Guitars Maxtone Drums & Accessories MXR Pedals Platinum Stands Power Tech Cables Reeds Australia Reeds for Clarinets,

Saxophones & Accessories Scotty Kazoos & Guitar Accessories Seiko Tuners & Metronomes Shadow Pickups & Accessories Signal Sender Cables & Audio Accessories SX Acoustic, Electric Guitars, Banjos & Harmonicas Trigger Capos Tycoon Percussion Valencia Classical Guitars, Mandolins & Violins Waltons Bodhrans, Whistles & Irish Print Music Way Huge Pedals

Brands Distributed: Ampetronic Hearing Assistance Systems Australian Monitor Commercial and Pro AV

Equipment and Accessories Beyerdynamic Wireless Mics, Microphones, Headphones, Conference Systems and Access BIAMP DSP Audio Systems Denon-Pro Source Players/Recorders L-Acoustics Concert Loudspeaker systems Lab Gruppen Pro and Commercial Amplifiers Lake Speaker Management Systems LSC Lighting Consoles, Control and Dimmers MediaMatrix DSP Systems Mipro Portable PA and Wireless Microphones Peavey AA DSP Control Systems including DSP Processors and Pro Audio Tools Renkus-Heinz Commercial and Pro Audio Loudspeaker Systems Revolabs Teleconferencing and Conference mic solutions Soundsphere Commercial Speaker Systems Tannoy Pro and Commercial Audio Loudspeakers Toa Commercial Audio Solutions Turbosound Pro and Commercial Audio Loudspeakers Williams Sound Hearing Assistance

Lewis Eady Ltd

Contact: David Love Address: 75 Great South Road, Remuera, Auckland Phone: (09) 524 4119 Email: music@lewiseady.co.nz Website: www.lewiseady.co.nz Facebook: /lewiseadypage

Brands Distributed: Boston Pianos Upright and Grand Pianos Essex Pianos Upright and Grand Pianos Farida Electric and Acoustic Guitars Haosen/Hau Sheng Percussion Instruments Palatino Stringed Instruments Recording King Guitars and Folk Instruments Steinway and Sons Upright and Grand Pianos The Loar Guitars and Folk Instruments Trevor James Brass and Woodwind Instruments

Systems (made in England)

Pedalboards

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Distributors Livesound Ltd

Contact: John Carter Address: PO Box 68216, Newton, Auckland Phone: (09) 378 9863 Fax: (09) 378 0542 Email: sales@livesound.co.nz Website: www.livesound.co.nz Brands Distributed: Amphenol Audio Connectors Eden Electronics Bass Guitar Amplification Eminence Loudspeaker Components Explorer Cases Waterproof, Dustproof, Military

Spec Cases K&M Stands for Music, Microphones, Speakers, Instruments etc Livesound Roadcases & Racks On Stage Stands Mic, Speaker and Instrument Stands Optogate Automatic Microphone Gates Pasgao Wireless Mic Systems Penn Fabrication Roadcase, Speaker Cabinet Hardware, Black Mount Systems Quest Engineering Loudspeaker Systems and Amplifiers Sommer Cable Audio and Video Cables Ultrasone Professional Headphones Xilica Audio Design Digital Processors for Loudspeakers and Audio Installations

Monaco Corporation Ltd

Contact: Michael Jenks for Pioneer Contact: Tanya Hiskens for Casio Address: 231 Bush Road, Albany, Auckland 0632 Phone: (09) 415 6000 Fax: (09) 415 7400 Website: www.monacorp.co.nz Email: michaelj@monacocorp.co.nz Email: tanyah@monacocorp.co.nz Pioneer Casio EM

Contact: Andrew Manning Address: PO Box 90014, Auckland Mail Centre, Victoria St West, Auckland 1142 Phone: (09) 303 4936 Fax: (09) 366 0281 Email: lyn.mcallister@xtra.co.nz

Brands Distributed:

Alegria Guitars Aquila Strings Aroma Tuners and Metronomes Awhi Guitar Straps Boogie Juice Fingerboard Cleaner Calato (Regal /Road) Drumsticks & Brushes Cooper Stands CPK Products

Diamond Head Ukuleles Feadog Irish Whistles Fishman Transducers & Amplifiers G7th Capos Gotoh Guitar Parts Hidersine, Hills and AB Rosins Kala and Makala Ukuleles Kyser Capos and Strings LM Guitar Straps Martin / Darco Guitars, Strings & Accessories Mi-Si Transducers Neotech Straps & Slings Ohana Ukuleles Players Woodwind, Brass Accessories Pyramid Strings for Violin, Cello and Guitar RhythmTech Percussion

Rico, Rico Royal, La Voz, Mitchell Lurie, Hemke, Plasticover Reeds Rico Accessories Saga Stringed Instruments (Regal, Rover,

Kentucky, Gitane) Savarez Classical Strings Schaller Straplocks Shubb Capos Sigma Guitars Terry Gould Capos

Brands Distributed:

Contact: Brodie Noon, Adrian Dittmer Address: PO Box 7008, 1B Tiki Place, Palmerston North

Phone: (06) 355 5073 Fax: (06) 355 5074 Email: sales@mdrlighting.co.nz Website: www.mdrlighting.com Brands Distributed: CBI Professional Cables, Bulk Cable, Connectors,

Stage Snakes and Looms, Multicores, Custom Cable Solutions Chauvet DJ LED Effect Lights & Accessories, LED Wash Lights & Accessories, Lasers, DMX Controllers, LED & Lamped Moving Heads, Fog/ Bubble/Dry Ice/Haze Machines & Fluids, Stands, Clamps and DMX Cables Chauvet Professional High Power LED Fixtures, Moving Heads/Washes, LED Video Walls/Screens, Media Servers Chauvet-Trusst Pro Trussing Range Eclipse Full Colour Laser Range IIluminarc Architectural LED Lighting Fixtures and Controllers Laserworld Laser Lights, complete Power and Colour Range MDR Fog Fuel, Bubble Fluids MyMix Personal Digital Mixer/Recorder for InEar Monitoring and Personal Mixing

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Contact: Jarrad Lee Phone: (09) 270 1334 Email: info@musicbiz.co.nz Website: www.musicbiz.co.nz Brands Distributed:

Ahead Armor Drum Bags and Cases Akai Software MIDI Controllers, Audio Interfaces, Samplers & Drum Machines Alesis Recording Interfaces, Mixing Consoles, Electronic Percussion and MIDI Controllers ALTO Live Sound Reinforcement Aria Acoustic/Electric Guitars & Accessories.

Avid Recording Software & Hardware, ProTools Azumi Flutes Eden Electronics Pro Bass Amplification Focusrite Audio Interfaces & Recording Hardware Gallien Krueger Bass Amplification Hercules Heavy Duty Instrument and Mic Stands Hohner Harmonicas, Melodicas and Recorders Jupiter Professional Brass instruments Lanikai Ukuleles M-Audio Audio Interfaces, Studio Monitors, Microphones and MIDI Controller Keyboards Majestic Band Percussion Instruments Mapex Drums, Hardware and Accessories Marshall Guitar/Bass Amplification Meinl Percussion and Cymbals Moog Analog Synthesisers and FX Pedals Music Nomad Equipment Care Nord ElectricPiano/Organs/Synths/Drum Synths Novation USB/MIDI Software Controllers & Keyboards NS Design Electronic Stringed Instruments Numark DJ Mixers, CD/Media Players, DJ Software Controllers, Cartridges & Accessories Odyssey DJ & Hi Tech Road Cases Protection Racket Drum/Percussion Cases & Bags PRS Guitars Paul Reed Smith Guitars.

Quiklok Stands and Accessories Taylor Acoustic and Electric Guitars Vater Drumsticks and Accessories

Veillette Guitars and Basses Vintage Electric and Acoustic Guitars Walden Acoustic Guitars

Musical Import Company Ltd

Address: PO Box 38-112, Wellington Mail Centre Phone: (04) 568 3449 Fax: (04) 568 3446 Email: sales@musico.co.nz Brands Distributed: Aroma Electronic Tuners, Metronomes and

Capos

Aulos Recorders, Fifes, Pan Pipes Black Diamond Banjo, Guitar, Mandolin & Ukulele Strings

Carlo Giardano Electric Violins & Bows Carlos Banjos, Guitars, Mandolins, Violins & Bows Dava Guitar Picks Dick Accessories for Stringed Instruments Fort Bryan Straps for Guitar & Sax Gator Cases & Bags for Drums, Guitar, Keyboard,

Racks, Wind Instruments Gator Frameworks Guitar, Keyboard, Microphone and Speaker Stands Hidersine Rosins Hohner Accordions, Concertinas, Harmonicas & Recorders Jargar Strings for Bass, Cello, Viola, Violin J. Michael Wind Instruments John Walker Tuning Forks Johnson Violin Shoulder Rests Keith McMillen Batt-O-Meter Battery Tester Lanikai Ukuleles Maxtone Guitar Accessories, Percussion Medeli Keyboards, Electronic Drum Kits & Digital Pianos On Stage Stands & Stools Pete Schmidt ‘Artisan’ Leather Guitar Straps Pickboy Guitar Picks, Tuners Pirastro Strings for Bass, Cello, Viola & Violin Printed Music (All Publishers) Rapco Cables Rico Reeds, Access, Mouthpieces Rock-Tips Liquid Callus Formula Rotosound Banjo, Cello, Guitar, Bass, Mandolin, Ukulele, Viola and Violin Strings Tanglewood Guitars, Banjos, Ukuleles, Mandolins Thomastik Strings for Bass, Cello, Guitar, Viola, Violin Wittner Metronomes, Music Stands, String Accessories Wolf Violin & Viola Shoulder Rests

Musiclink NZ Ltd

Contact: Wayne McIntyre, Harry Russell Phone: (09) 250 0068 Fax: (09) 259 0069 Email: info@musiclinknz.co.nz Website: www.musiclinknz.co.nz Brands Distributed: Ableton Recording Software Ampeg Bass and Guitar Amplifiers

Antares

Art & Lutherie Acoustic Guitars

Arturia Cakewalk

Cerwin Vega PA Sound Reinforcement

Crane Hardware D’Addario Strings and Products Diago Pedal Boards and Power Supplies Evans Drum Heads Gibson Les Paul Monitors Godin Electric Guitars

HQ Percussion ISO Acoustics Studio Monitor Stands KRK Studio Monitors La Patrie Acoustic Guitars Line 6 Guitar Amps and Effects, Guitars, Sound Reinforcement Equipment Mackie Sound Reinforcement Equipment MTD Michael Tobias Design Bass Guitars Native Instruments DJ gear, Hardware and Software Pearl Drums Planet Waves Guitar Access. Cables, Straps, Tuners ProMark Drumsticks Propellerhead Recording Software & Hardware Puresound Drum Accessories Rico Reeds Sabian Cymbals Seagull Acoustic Guitars Simon & Patrick Acoustic Guitars Stanton DJ Equipment Ultimate Support Stands Universal Audio Recording Equipment Vic Firth Drum Sticks

Contacts: Neil Haworth, Andrew McElroy Address: 146-148 Captain Springs Rd, Onehunga, Auckland Phone: (09) 634 0099 Fax: (09) 634 5615 Email: sales@musicworks.co.nz Website: www.musicworks.co.nz

Brands Distributed: Admira Handcrafted Spanish Classical and

Flamenco Guitars

Alpine Professional Hearing Protection Ear Plugs Ashton Guitars, Instrument Amplifiers, Sound

Music NZ

Contact: Daryl Cogger Phone: (09) 270 4001 Fax: (09) 270 1337 Email: sales@musicnzl.co.nz Website: www.musicnzl.co.nz Brands Distributed: Blackstar oss B Breedlove Edirol Ernie Ball Gator HK Audio Hosa Technology Medeli Remo Røde Roland Sterling

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Reinforcement, Drums & Accessories AuviTran Professional Audio Networking Solutions Avalon Audio Compression, Mic Preamps, Studio Equipment AXL Electric Guitars and Basses Beale Grand and Upright Pianos Bosendorfer Handcrafted Grand Pianos DaCappo High Quality Micro Microphones and In-ear Monitors DDrum Electronic and Acoustic Drum Triggers Dean Markley Guitar, Bass, Mandolin & Banjo Strings, Acoustic Pickups & Amps Ego Sys Sound Cards and Interfaces Electro Voice Loud Speakers and Accessories EMES Professional Studio Monitors ENGL All-Valve Guitar Amplifiers and Cabinets Floyd Rose Tremelos George L’s Professional Cables Grover Guitar and Bass Machine Heads HH Electronics PA Speakers, Monitors & Amplifiers Hiwatt All-valve Guitar & Bass Amplifiers and Cabinets Ibanez Guitars, Basses, Acoustics, Classical Guitars, Effects Pedals, Guitar & Bass Amplifiers, Cables, Cases, Straps and Bags ITC Audio Public Address and Communication Solutions

Jam Hub Audio Systems JJ Valves Power and Pre-amp Valves JMI The Original AC Amplifiers Johnson Acoustic and Classical Guitars Juno Reeds Student Brass and Woodwind Reeds

Kemper Profiling Amplifier Laney Guitar Amplification and PA Lee Oskar Harmonicas Levys Leathers Guitar Straps, Bags Manhassett Orchestral Stands and Accessories Mogami Cables Professional Cables Morley Wah Pedals & Effects Morpheus DropTune, Capo and Bomber Pitchshifting Effects Pedals MXL Studio & Live Condenser Microphones Nikko Metronomes Paiste Cymbals, Sounds, Gongs & Cymbal Accessories Palatino Violins, Violas, Cellos, Basses and String Accessories Palmer Audio Tools and Pro Audio Equipment Pearl River Pianos PedalTrain Guitar Effects Pedalboards ProRockGear Guitar and Bass Cases, Drum Cases Que Audio Microphone Solutions Recording King Banjos, Resonator Guitars and Mandolins Ritmuller Upright and Grand Pianos RME Professional Studio Audio Interfaces and Soundcards Rockhouse Mixer Systems for Schools Rotosound Strings Schecter Electric Guitars, Basses, Acoustics and Basses Steinberg Studio Software, Cubase, Nuendo and Audio Interfaces Studio Devil Amp Modelling Studio Software Tama Drums, Hardware, Sticks, Bags and Accessories T Rex Guitar and Bass Effects Pedals Ultimate Stands for Speakers and Keyboards and Lighting Ultrasound Acoustic Amplifiers and DI Boxes Vandoren Reeds French Woodwind Reeds and Mouthpieces Vicoustic Studio Sound Treatment Panels Wi WiFi Mics and Recording Equipment Xilica High-performance DSP Systems Yamaha Guitars and Basses, Acoustic and Classical, Keyboards, Pianos, PA Equipment, Mixers, Audio Interfaces, Synthesisers, Sound Modules, Drums, Brass, Woodwind, Accessories

Contact: Carl Win, Ali Shannon Address: PO Box 201228, Auckland Airport, Manukau 2150 Ph: (09) 913 6212 Fax: (09) 912 1845 Email: cwin@nowsound.co.nz Website: www.nowsound.co.nz

Brands Distributed: Cloud Electronics High Quality Commercial

Audio Systems QSC Amplifiers, Loudspeakers, Digital and Analogue Signal Processing Shure Microphones, Headphones, Mixers WekaWire Audio & Control Installation Cable & Connrectors Whirlwind Cable, Fibre Optic & Connectors

Oceania Audio Sales Ltd

Contact: Nigel Russell Address: PO Box 41085, St Lukes, Auckland.

Phone: (09) 845 7800 Fax: (09) 846 4626 Email: nigel@oceania-audio.co.nz Website: www.oceania-audio.co.nz Brands Distributed: AEA Ribbon Microphones Antelope Audio HD Audio clocks, Audio Interfaces API Modular Preamps, EQs & Compressors Avalon Design Pure Class A Signal Processing AvantonePro Electronics Mixcube Monitors,

Auckland Phone: (09) 834 8355 Email: pete@bassbass.co.nz Website: www.bassbass.co.nz

Brands Distributed: Acoustic Image USA Amplifiers for Acoustic Instruments

Christopher Double Basses David Gage Realist Pickups for Double Bass K & K Transducers for all Instruments Phil Jones Bass Amplification PMM Double Basses & Cases for Double Bass Poellman Double Bass Pops Rosins Revolution Solo Transducers for Double Bass Schertler Amplification Shimro Double Basses Underwood Bass Transducers Wilson Pickups for Double Bass

76 Paul Matthews Rd, Auckland Phone: (04) 801 9494, (09) 414 0477 Fax: (04) 384 2112, (09) 415 3117 Email: orders@protel.co.nz Website: www.protel.co.nz

Brands Distributed:

A-Designs Audio Products Apogee Interfaces for iPad/iPhone/MacOS ATI Audio Distribution and Utility Audient Analogue Consoles & Mic Pres Avid Pro Tools, Controllers, Live Sound Bricasti Digital Reverb & Audiophile Cedar Audio Restoration DirectOut MADI Interfacing Eartec Comms Systems Genelec Active Studio Monitors Hear Technologies Personal Monitor Systems iZotope Audio Processing Software Kv2 Audio Sound Reinforcement Lawo Digital Consoles, Routers Lewitt Microphones Little Labs Engineers Tools McDSP Processing Plug-Ins Metric HaloLabs Hi-res I/O and Processing Nugen Audio Metering & Level Control Riedel RockNet Networked Audio Sonnox Audio Processing Software SoundToys Pro Effects Plug-Ins Spectrasonics Virtual Instruments SPL Professional Processing Solutions Violet Design Microphones Waves Audio Processing Software Zaxcom Digital Encrypted Wireless/Recording

Microphones

Avenson Audio Condensor Mics & DIs Blue Microphones Microphones Burl D/A A/D Convertors, 500 Series Preamps Chameleon Labs Preamps and Microphones Chandler LTD Preamps, EQs and Compressors Clear-Com Wired and Wireless Intercom Systems Cloud Microphones Ribbon Mics and CloudLifter Mic Optimizers

Coles Ribbon Mics Countryman & Assoc DI Boxes & Miniature Mics Direct Sound Extreme Isolation Headphones Drawmer Valve, Digital & Conventional Signal Processors

Earthworks High Definition Microphones Empirical Labs ‘The Distressor’ Compressor,

Contact: Pete McGregor Address: 8 Capstan Court, Te Atatu Peninsula,

Contact: Scott Simpson, Rene Bullinga Address: 15 Walter St, Wellington and

FATSO, Lil Freq EQ and Mike-e Equator Audio Revolutionary Dual Concentric Studio Monitors FMR Audio Compressor, Preamp & Levelling Amp Funk Logic Rack Trays and Rack Filler Golden Age Vintage Preamps Heil Sound Dynamic Microphones JDK Mic Pres, EQs & Compressors Joe Meek Voice Channels, Stereo Opto Compressors, Large and Small Diapragm Mics Kush Audio Innovative EQ’s, Compressors Lindell Audio Audio Processors Microtech Gefell German Microphones Mojave Audio Fet and Tube Microphones Oktava Condenser & Ribbon Mics Presonus Audio Electronics Mic Pre-amps, Interfaces & Dynamic Processors, Digital Mixers & DAWs ProCo Multicores & Bulk Cable, RAT Distortion Pedals Purple Audio 500 Series Preamps and EQs Roll Music Super Stereo Compressor, Folcrum Bus Mixer Royer Labs Ribbon Microphones Schoeps Modular Condenser Mics and Access Shadow Hills HQ Mic Pres, Compressors Stedman Steel Pop Screens Studio Projects Condenser Mics, Mic Preamps and Accessories Summit Audio Valve Mic Preamps, Compressors, EQs Toft Audio Products Mixers, Mic Preamps, Tonelux Recording Consoles and Modules Triad-Orbit Mic Stands and Accessories Trident Audio Designs Mixers & Studio Monitors Valley People Compressors and Gates Warm Audio Mic Preamps, Compressors & EQs Wunder Audio Microphones and Preamps

Contact: Stephen Buckland, Diana Byrami, Scott McNeill

Address: Unit 3, 1 Porters Ave, Eden Terrace, Auckland

Phone: (09) 366 1750 Fax: (09) 366 1749 Email: digital@soundtq.co.nz Website: www.soundtq.co.nz Brands Distributed: ADAM Audio Professional Monitor Speakers Lectrosonics Inc Radio Mics, IFB Systems Sanken Microphones Sound Devices Portable Recorders, Mixers, USB Mic Pres Windtech Windshields and Mic Accessories

Contact: Daniel Rowe Address: Unit A, 26-30 Vestey Drive, Mount Wellington, Auckland 1060 Phone: (09) 580 0489 Fax: (09) 580 0490 Email: sales@sennheiser.co.nz Website: www.sennheiser.co.nz

Brands Distributed Apart Contracting Speakers Bryston Professional Amplifiers Dolby Broadcast Neumann Microphones Rycote Wind Protection Sennheiser Microphones and Headphones

Contact: Paul Gregory Address: PO Box 33-310, Christchurch 8244 Phone: (03) 942 3520 Fax: (03) 960 3520

0508 Percussion (737-287) Email: sales@re-percussion.co.nz Website: www.re-percussion.co.nz

Brands Direct Marketed:

Acme Whistles & Sound Effects Adams Concert Percussion Andante Pipe Band Drums and Sticks Clearsonic Transparent Sound Shields and

Portable Isolation Booths Dream Cymbals and Gongs Grover Pro Concert Percussion Mike Balter Percussion Mallets Peterson Virtual Strobe & Strobostomp Tuners Roc n Soc Seating

Contact: Steve Cullen Address: PO Box 87, Greenhithe, Auckland Phone: (07) 850 9300 Fax: (07) 850 9299 Email: sales@SoMusic.co.nz Website: www.SoMusic.co.nz Brands Distributed: Corde Classic/Acoustic Guitars, Ukes, Violin Henley Woodwind: Clarinets, Flutes, Piccolo Mannix Electric Guitars, Bass, Amps, PA Pulse and Chang Cymbals Ryan Drums and Percussion Spider Capo Partial Capos The String Cleaner String Cleaning Product Westpoint Brass Trumpets, Cornets, Flugels, Trombones Wristies Wrist Warmers for Musos XM Drum Electronic Drums, Digital Drums

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The Violin & Guitar Shop Ltd

Contacts: John & Ricci Hewitt Address: 930A Dominion Road, Balmoral, Auckland Phone: (09) 629 0324, 021 376 995 Fax: (09) 629 0599 Email: hewitts@fiddleshop.com Website: www.fiddleshop.com Website: www.kapono.co.nz Brands Distributed: Cason Tuners Dreams Of The Forest Guitars Hewitt’s Carbon Products Hewitt’s Cases Kapono Ukuleles Obonda Guitars Shore Guitars Ukau Ukuleles

Check into www.nzmusician.co.nz for regular updates of this and NZM’s other, oh so handy online Directories.

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Marlon Williams

This Charming Man H

e started songwriting as a teenager and says he only began playing guitar properly in his last year of high school. His first band of note was gloriously named The Unfaithful Ways. It’s a classic story. Meeting at Christchurch Boys’ High School they won the prize for Best Song as Canterbury region finalists in the 2008 SmokefreeRockquest, recorded an EP and an album, performed Julia Deans’ A New Dialogue at the 2010 APRA Silver Scroll Awards and were finalists for the second Critics’ Choice award the following year – up against Popstrangers and Kimbra.

New Zealand’s popular country music renaissance was in its infancy but The Unfaithful Ways smashed down a good number of apparent barriers and introduced a bona fide new talent in their fresh-faced, angelic-voiced, acoustic guitar-toting frontman. Back in December 2010, Vicki Anderson observed in NZM that, ‘Marlon Williams has the face of a choirboy and the shoes of an Italian film star.’

In 2015 Marlon Williams is still somehow fresh-faced – at least when the rigours of his busy touring life aren’t being reflected, as they are when we talk early on a Friday morning – and still eye-catchingly dressed, with his own naturally dapper style. He is promoting his debut studio album with an early morning in-store performance and a gig at Auckland’s Tuning Fork tonight, sandwiching a series of interviews in between.

Not yet 25 years old, Marlon already has a very decent collection of touring, writing and production credits to his name, a modest but remarkable international reputation as an outstanding singer and songwriter (Justin Townes Earle reckons him the ‘real deal’), and a strong trans-Tasman following for his ’60s-tinged style of alt-country. All these things, but most of all his abundant natural charm, lend him a considerable aura of cool.

Hugely successful collaborations with Tami Neilson and Marlon’s long-time friend and mentor Delaney Davidson, for the Sad But True national tours and albums, have brought Tui awards and further critical acclaim. Part of a wave of quality country and folk musicians, he has been involved with three of the 10 finalist albums in this year’s Taite Music Prize.

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Photos: Justyn Strother & Warwick Baker

Born and raised in Christchurch, music started early for young Marlon Williams, though the trail to his chosen alternativecountry discipline was hardly flagged. His father sang in a punk band, but with a blend of Ngāi Tahu and Ngāi Tai blood he inevitably did a bit of singing at the local marae, harmonising around the house along with his mum, with church and school choirs later polishing his natural vocal skills. Gram Parsons was his first country record and, as he tells Silke Hartung, Marlon knew then that this was the music he himself wanted to make.

Despite a quite prolific output of solid original work Marlon is often quoted as saying he thinks of himself more as a singer than a songwriter. Rather than false modesty, it reflects more his honesty and a scholarly diligence to the history and craft of his genre. Oddly he doesn’t much enjoy the process of writing, only the end result.

“The golden rule of Delaney in songwriting is ‘Just do it’ – don’t be precious about it, get used to the feel of writing! He taught me it’s a craft as well as an art. You don’t have to wait for divine inspiration, I mean, you can, but that’s not an easy way to create.

“I’m not like Delaney. I find it really hard to sit down and go,‘Okay, I’m going to write a song in C, F and G and it’s going to be about rain.’ I don’t do that. I have to wait until I get a line that comes into my head, and that’ll be a complete line. It’s like hearing a song on the radio, a tiny bit of a song, and you’re taking that as example, using it to push out either way until you’ve got a whole song.

“Strange Things started like that. I had [he sings the chorus in doo doos] in my head, and the whole line. So from there you’re just trying to work out what the whole song is about from the one line. ‘What’s this song about? Hmm, it’s probably about this!’ And then you try to remember the rest of the song. That’s nearly how it feels.”

If his often dark lyrics were to be taken for personal truths there would be a lot of cause to worry about Marlon. Spooky deaths, sad love and forced departures are regular themes.

“I never think of myself in songs at all,” he assures. “If I do come to a song through a feeling, I try to obscure that and just think about the story. It becomes fiction surprisingly quickly. Of course there are always elements of truth – after all it came out of my head…”

The closest to personal his self-titled album gets is Lonely Side Of Her, inspired by his relationship with fellow Lyttelton Records’ artist Aldous Harding, but even here, he says, he tweaked it.

“Ben Edwards and I produced the album together.There certainly wasn’t an overall theme, but the idea was to branch out into as many different directions as possible for my first album.

From then on you give yourself the space in the public eye to close in on certain things after that.”

As for the production, he says he didn’t have much of a concept for any of the nine songs before heading into the studio.

“Not much was planned from the beginning, most ideas came up during the recording. It was just me, so I sort of just felt my way through it without having too much pre-production.”

“I got locked out of Chicks Hotel one night after playing, and decided that I was able to scale the stone wall to climb into a first floor window. There was a ladder that was going to my room but it was a whole 6.5 feet from the ground. I was very surprised and impressed by my ability to do it. Spiderman!”

The recording line up sees long time playing mate Ben Woolley (another The Unfaithful Ways member) on bass and backing vocals, John Egenes on pedal steel, Jamie ‘Rang’ Lloyd, Aaron Tokona and Simon Gregory on additional guitars, AJ Park and Joe McCallum on drums, with Anita Clark and Mikey Somerfield adding

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strings. More backing vocals were provided by Harding, Ben Brown and Marlon’s father David Williams.

As evidenced by the choice of often obscure covers he’s recorded in the past, and for this album, Marlon listens to a lot of music.

A true scholar does their research. The album’s

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first single, Dark Child, was written by fellow Christchurch songwriter Tim Moore, an old friend. It’s also his personal favourite for its climactic production.

“I’ve always loved the way Tim writes. He’s such a natural songwriter and singer. When I recorded it I thought it was better than any I’d done, so I put it out as a single. I think Dark Child sits in the middle of the album, just in the way of the instrumentation and themes. When it gets bigger and bigger… and explodes into the final part of the song… I like the way that sounds and feels.”

Lost Without You is a cover of a lesser known song by Italian-American songwriter Teddy Randazzo, who had minor hits on his own, but whose credits most notably include charting songs by Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, The Zombies and Linda Ronstadt. Marlon’s version sounds positively inspired by a 1965 cover of the same song by British teen idol and Beatles contemporary, Billy Fury.

Another eclectic cover choice is Silent Passage, the title track to the only, and near mythical album of Canadian singer/songwriter Bob Carpenter. ‘Silent Passage’ (the album) had been recorded in 1974, but was never published due to contract issues with his producer until nearly 40 years later, in 2012. The original has Emmylou Harris on backing vocals – Marlon replacing her with the lush voice of partner in crime, Aldous Harding. His interpretation is spacious and gently paced. Typically the covers he plays blend seamlessly with his originals,

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A musical scene or culture will evolve if the right set of conditions exists. The crucial factors are geographic location, isolation, a focal point (could be an individual, a venue, a school, or a space), and a willing audience.

The Lyttelton Sound may have evolved out of necessity in the post earthquake confines of a traumatised city. In the shadows cast by the earthquakes people needed a return to basics, the voice and the song, as a means of comfort and identity. Previous venues were unavailable, portability became everything. Isolation contributed to this hot spot.

The moment a scene can be analysed and deconstructed, it begins to dismantle and attention moves to a new focal point and cultural germination. Scenes are transient, ephemeral and fragile with the pace of change increasing as time moves on, and global connectedness making communication between people more fluid.

Jeni Little, ethnomusicologist and music teacher - (the Alan Lomax of the south seas).

M.Mus (Hons), A.T.C.L, Dip Tchg.

which speaks for the quality of Marlon’s own compositions.

In spite of his proclaimed ‘weakness’ as a songwriter, Marlon’s melodies and lyrical skills are far from below par. The stories he tells can be taken literally, but certain lines and ideas stick out as universally applicable to feelings and situations most of us have encountered.

He plays the role of a romanticised vagrant, outsider and rebel, with a delivery that is always believable. Thematically the album deals strongly with transience, many of the songs resembling ‘modern’ gothic fiction, touching on family, love and religion. Between the lines swings the inevitability of death, but there’s also beauty.

Despite a strong sense of longing (for love, distance, travel, what could have been, the past, a life without worries), it is somehow uplifting, sentimental rather than depressing. While clearly aiming for an old-fashioned, even traditional sound, the album comes across as fresh with appeal for country purist, folk and Americana fans, and also indie audiences with the dark themes and injections of quirk.

‘Marlon Williams’ is a fantastic album, reminiscing classic ’60s RCA/Monument recordings out of Nashville. In the vein of Roy Orbison, Marlon has one of those rare voices that can carry any song. He soars and croons, with great control over clarity of voice, husky when required.

The quiet vulnerability between the lines in the often emotional ballads shows a deep sensitivity and empathy with others’ situations. There’s that maudlin sentimentality, the ‘Southern gentleman’ that he channels, and even the increasingly influential ‘Lyttelton Sound’ A-team.

The Lyttelton Sound. It’s been amazing to witness the development of an influential country/folk scene in Christchurch’s port town, particularly given the heart-breaking circumstances of the earthquakes.

“It’s interesting how in history every scene seems to converge out of its own volition, like in various little pockets. Look at punk starting pretty much at the same time in the UK and US. That’s a much bigger example of course... that’s a big sociological question! I’ve always wondered but

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I just don’t know. The nature versus nurture question – when I first came to that music The Eastern weren’t a band yet, there was no scene.

I came to it pretty organically.”

As much as he has drawn from it, Marlon wasn’t afraid to leave Lyttelton when he felt the need to in mid-2013. His home base is Melbourne these days.

“In Melbourne I hang out with a lot of old-school rock’n’rollers, like the Drones and You Am I. The pub where I live is really iconic. It hasn’t been around for long, but it’s run by old Melbourne rockers, so generally I hang out with those guys. They’re fun!”

As indeed he is. Not given to taking himself all too seriously, Marlon had a special treat for NZ fans for Valentines Day this year. Weekly gig guide The Fold published a pin up pic of him, posing shirtless and smouldering in the bike shop that’s based at the back of the pub where he lives, taken on a phone by his girlfriend.

“I’ve found myself in a nice place in terms of Australia’s musical history, being able to meet all these people.”

Though outwardly gregarious when on or near a stage, there is also an introvert aspect to him. Being on tour a lot demands a degree of social skills as well as managing the very little downtime there is to provide some necessary personal time. To get away from everything when touring he reads, watches movies and plays games on his phone.

“Your mind learns to shut certain things off.

The more you tour the better you get at it – also in ways to make people feel okay while not giving them too much of your energy. It’s just another art that you develop over time. I’m not very sociable, I mean, I can be, but I’m not very outgoing.”

He hesitates, then laughs before (sort of ) joking, “I don’t like people. It gives you that appreciation to finally get home. I never leave my room when I’m home.”

It doesn’t seem likely that he will be home, here or there, much in 2015. Bigger stages beckon and after so many collaborative releases he now has a strong calling card of his own.

“After releasing the album I’m going to go to Canada in July for some folk festivals. I’m hoping to get some recording done with Justin Townes Earle in Nashville. My goal is to have a few songs ready to go to record with him, hoping something good will come out of it.

I’m sure it will, but I better make sure it does, you know?”

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Missing The Axe Attack? Then Show Some More Love…

It’s been a sad period in the history of NZ radio for those of us who share a rabid love of and support for local music. While heartily lamented by some, the loss of Kiwi FM was widely accepted as being long-coming and inevitable.

Indeed, when another MediaWorks’ radio station announced the closure of its weekly 3-hour specialist metal show, The Axe Attack, a few months earlier, the public response was noticeably louder and more vitriolic.

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fter over 25 years on air, The Rock’s late night metal show The Axe Attack is no longer being broadcast across the nation on a weekly basis. Does that suck? Yeah, of course it does if you’re a passionate Kiwi metalhead. It was spoon fed to us each Sunday night and we knew where to get our fix every week – making it both easy and popular. But the absence of this venerable show doesn’t mean there’s not still places you can find out about new bands, the bands you already love, and where and when you can see these bands in the flesh – you’re just going to have to work a little harder. In fact we all are.

The old saying is ‘every cloud has a silver lining’ – and there is some silver lining to be found here. Look at the awareness and support that was given to Paul Martin and The Axe Attack during the confusing times that we all had to deal with when the show disappeared from the airwaves. There were literally thousands of people across NZ and overseas questioning the decision, showing solidarity to Paul and the music we identify with so strongly. It was heartening in many ways.

The question shouldn’t be why was the show’s run on The Rock ended – it was a business decision pure and simple and they’re the ones paying the bills, so it’s their call. No, the

question should be; Where are these thousands of metal fans every week?

I’ve been to and played metal gigs in this country where the bands play to 20 people – sometimes even fewer. Sure some blame can be apportioned to the bands themselves, who sometimes fail to promote these tours or shows as well as they should. But equally I’ve been to many well promoted and run events that haven’t had the crowds they should – why is that? I get sometimes you (the could-be audience members) have to work, are broke, can’t get a babysitter – whatever – it happens to all of us at some point. But that can’t be the reason bands and promoters who are doing things the right way often can’t even cover costs.

I’ll tell you why I think it happens, and this could hurt but I will not apologise for it. The reason is we’re lazy – pure and simple. How many times have you ‘thought about going to the gig’ but decided the couch, the stereo and the fridge are too convenient so, ‘Bugger it, they won’t notice I’m not there.’ More than a few of us are guilty of that sort of laziness and indifference.

Then there are those who object to having to pay a door charge. Now I know, this being a magazine for musicians, I’m preaching to the converted, but bear with me. A few years back Just One Fix were touring our first album, ‘The Price of $ellvation’, and had just supported Hellyeah at The Studio, so our name was out there and we were getting noticed.

As a band we’d decided to make our door charge for the tour just $5. We knew it was cheap but the idea was that if that gets more people through the door and they like what they hear we can sell more albums. One night on that tour we played in New Plymouth and had a guy come to the door and absolutely throw his toys at a $5 cover charge! We couldn’t believe it. $100 plus in gas, much more on accommodation and

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Opinion

food, not to mention strings, sticks and rehearsal room rent all had to be covered by us – and yet this guy didn’t want to part with (less than) the price of a beer to come in.

My point, if you haven’t grasped it yet is this; support the local bands and scene, like you and thousands of others supported the Axe Attack once it was gone, and we’ll all be better for it. If 60,000 plus can go to four nights of Metallica then surely The Kings Arms, Valhalla or Churchills can’t be that hard to fill when local acts like Tainted, Subtract and Bulletbelt are touring? Get off your ass and go to a gig, buy a t-shirt or an album and meet other metalheads – you’ll have fun – I promise.

If you’re looking for somewhere else to get your metal fix post Axe Attack, why not try some of these out? The Metal Bar on Juice TV – Mondays from 10pm; www.metalradio. co.nz – online metal radio station; Molten Metal Podcast; Cacophony on RDU (98.5FM) in Christchurch and streamable elsewhere; GlamnCheese Podcast; www.metalbar.co.nz Support these sites and shows by tuning in and spreading the word and you’ll not only make the scene bigger and better, you’ll also enable thosee running them to do a better job.

After over 20 years in radio, including eight years as Music Director at The Rock, Riccardo Ball is these days a rock and metal consultant.

Email: wreckingballmedia@gmail.com

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THE RECLINER ROCKERS: Tracks

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The Recliner Rockers’ debut album is that rare combination of clever songs, memorable hooks and excellent musicianship. An exciting and dynamic three-piece live, I was interested to hear how well their groove and feel would translate in the studio and wasn’t disappointed. ‘Tracks’ kicks off with the hard swinging jump blues of Betty Lou, showcasing the inventive and watertight rhythm section of Geoff Fitzpatrick on stand-up bass and Julian Davis on drums. Bruce French (a long time alumni and honorary fourth member of the band) adds sinewy and melodic saxophone lines to this and other tracks on the album. The albums’ composer and arranger, Alan Lavis, brings his distinct baritone voice, and (quite frankly) astonishing guitar playing to this and the other 11 tunes. One can hear the influences of American and English blues/rockabilly musicians Stevie Ray Vaughan, Peter Green, Scotty Moore and Hollywood Fats upon Lavis, and the rest of the band. That considered, The Recliner Rockers deliver a collection of original songs born from the NZ experience and of the emotional gamut through which many of us must daily pass. ‘Tracks’ is a soundtrack for big fun and dancing but also for pathos and heartbreak. Other stand out tracks include the gently rocking I Heard It On The Radio and the beautiful slow blues of Plane. Recorded at Montage Studios (which dates it to circa 2013) the self-released album was engineered by Kenny MacDonald. A fine momento of that night you cut loose, laughed and danced your feet off. s 3TEPHEN -C4AGGART

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Auckland four-piece The Nightshades have been around for a while now, having earned their pedigree as parts Surf City, New Gum Sarn, Civil Union and Bargain Bin Laden. After amassing a group of songs, courtesy of vocalist and songwriter Dave Weir, the group recorded and assembled them as this debut album.

The seven-song ‘Dope/Sick’ is packed with pieces of garage-y, psychedelic pop, laden with melodies and hooks. The title song starts brightly, like the best power pop, but has a fuzzed out guitar solo that makes it just that little bit heavier, while Favourite Quilt sticks so closely to the psychedelic jangle-pop tradition of the 1960s that I’m almost convinced I’m listening to something from the ‘Day In My Mind’s Mind’ compilations. Madman looks to the rhythms and distorted vocals-treatments of bands like Unknown Mortal Orchestra, with Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd-style harmonies and imagery giving a sense of sadness beneath the whimsical music. ‘Dope/Sick’ may be short, but it has some of the catchiest charming psych-pop songs I’ve heard in ages. s !MANDA -ILLS

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Traversing the line between pop and folk can be a delicate business any band. Often completely different audiences, the music can fall awkwardly in neither camp. ‘The Road Home’ sits in both as a thoughtfully written folk album and as singalong pop, meaning that Paper Cranes have navigated this issue well. Fans of the Auckland-based duo/band will be very happy after the wait since their 2012 EP ‘Oh Love’. A hauntingly spacious arrangement of the American traditional song In The Pines is a highlight, shining light on the pinpoint harmonies of Fraser and Naomi Browne. This juxtaposition of their vocals is the icing on well-crafted lyrics and a thoughtfully arranged album. Guest musicians feature on each track, the additional instruments carefully placed within the mix, leaving Trouble Is almost untouched, and perfect for it. No surprise in the quality of the recording, done over four days at Roundhead Studios by Nic Manders, who also added his musical talents to many of the tracks on the album. The first full length from Paper Cranes, three years after their debut EP, proves well worth the wait, each song deserving a long pondered listen. s &INN -C,ENNAN %LLIOTT EV\Z )%

Energy, aggression and experimentation are the first impressions of Tauranga rock unit The D-Day Saints. Guitar prominence runs high throughout the recording but none more so on the standout opening track Final Call. Project figurehead Baz Mantis shines on guitar and injects solos aplenty. Mantis takes credit for writing the music and playing most of the instruments as well as arranging, recording and producing, plus mixing and mastering at Electric Gypsy studio. That leaves lyrics and singing, with the 10 tracks featuring a revolving cast of contributors that gives this record great diversity, while retaining a songwriting cohesion. While there is a metal undercurrent, tracks such as Undone with its Portishead vibe and the freak electro jazz delivery of And The Electric Dragon Rises keep you guessing. Kingsley Smith puts a majestic touch of keyboards and vocals to mid-way track Chill Pill, which is the album’s anthem. In addition to his high level guitar acrobatics, Baz Mantis has done well crafting the production of these songs – along with a fine job of creation and collaborating. The D-Day Saints guarantee a fresh listen for the open minded metal/alt rock listener. s 3TU %DWARDS

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Hannah in the Wars is the vehicle for the dark folk musings of Hannah Curwood. Hailing from central Otago, the stark countryside informs her music, imbuing it with a mystic quality.

Now residing in London, Curwood has married both craft and art on this latest release – an ambitious and very complete 10-song album. Delicate fingers of melody are supported by a super sympathetic rhythm section and a masterfully restrained keyboard and guitar ensemble, giving the space to fully explore her vocal spectrum on songs that slowly reveal their true bite over several listens.

That is not to say that the songs are difficult or unappealing on first listen, more that their depth takes some time to fully appreciate. The album was produced by Roger O’Donnell, sometime keyboardist for The Cure, in his own studio. His guidance has produced a very intimate collection of songs, the gentle musical scene-setting allowing each to inhabit a melodic space all its own. There are moments where you are transported back to the moods of the Cocteau Twins, then gently pushed to recall Norah Jones, followed by PJ Harvey – whilst the music and melody has a strong identity of its own. Above all, the songs are complete and fully realised. O’Donnell’s production and the selection of the accompanying musicians have added tasteful layers of subtle sonic colour to the songs. At their core the tunes are elegant and beautifully constructed, and would stand on their own with just guitar or piano, which is the test of a great song. Curwood’s voice is beguiling, at turns swirling otherworldly and then pulling you close for a confession. The quality here is undeniable from every angle, songs that have something to say and an emotional arc which is simpatico with the music. s $ARRYL +IRK

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Running Stitch is the solo project of Aletta Ashdown, who not only wrote and produced all four tracks on this EP, but also did the artwork. Though this is her debut release, Ashdown has been on the music scene for at least a decade in various guises. This EP serves as a brilliant introductory showcase for her musical charms. A low-key PJ Harvey, or Cat Power reference wouldn’t be too far off, and there’s a mix of moods and tempos within the four short tracks, leaving you wanting to hear more. Despite the gross mis-use of ‘grunge’ references, it’s accurate in suggesting a Hole or Nirvana outtake evident on the first two tracks. This doesn’t sound completely solo, but no other credits are given. These are great, unpretentious offerings that intrigue and invite further investigation. Job done. s !NIA 'LOWACZ

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THE ORGANIC JAZZ BAND: Blue Skies

Instead of a big budget debut, the first release for Christchurch trio The Organic Jazz Band reads more as a taster to their live performance. Featuring a selection of standards, ranging from Berlin (Blue Skies), Shearing (Lullaby Of Birdland), Cole Porter (You’d Be So Nice To Come Home To) to Mann and Hilliard (In The Wee Small Hours Of The Morning), ‘Blue Skies’ handles the classics with care.

Featuring Nanako Sato on piano and vocals, Victoria Knopp (bass) and Rachel Travaille on saxophone, the group came to life whilst performing at an outdoor harvest market. After much request they decided to cut a greatest hits selection of their live set list. Mixed and mastered by Andy Knopp, ‘Blue Skies’ is a clear crisp listen, performed more smoothly, as one may imagine, than some of the singers who made these songs famous. Likely it was a conscious decision to not attempt emulate the vocal stylings of Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra, but more serious jazz listeners will flag at the lack of virtuosity needed to challenge these songs. Sato, Knopp and Traville are all highly skilled musicians, more than capable of making this an impressive listen, but do fall short of providing any education in the re-interpretation of jazz. That said, ‘Blue Skies’ serves its purpose, a lovely dinner time listen that will no doubt get repeated plays by owners. s 3AMMY *AY $AWSON

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Finally fans of classic rock’n’roll can rejoice. Hailing from Auckland, five-piece Harvey Knows A Killer, act as though disco never happened, mixing together rock, blues, funk and psychedelic with a traditional Kiwi flavour. Somehow this calls to mind the likes of Deep Purple, The Doobie Brothers and, dare I say it, Stevie Wonder. Featuring Windon Bradfield on lead guitar, Joss Colling (bass and bvs), Rewi Mclay (vocals and guitar), Jermayn Clarke (drums) and Dillon Riesterer (vocals, keyboards), there’s a sense that these boys have well and truly done their homework, easily letting listeners forget this is a debut album. Opener and title track Rhythmic Slither, kicks things off in truly epic proportions, highlighting the band’s sense of boisterous bluesrock and capturing a sense of their live intensity. Although the band’s power rock format can also be heard on tracks including Pitchfork Pete, Hedonist, Taniwha and Southern Wasteland, it proves to be just one of the many faces of Harvey Knows A Killer. Bubbling below the surface of this hard-rocking monster are exceptional talents as soft-rock balladeers. Lucid Dreams, with its fusion-esque guitars and surreal keyboard lines, is the first of many highlights. The chill funk of Man In The Wind and album closer Annie’s Song, will leave listeners surprised by the band’s musical depth. Produced by Nathan Judd and Cherie Tinney, recorded and mixed by Judd and mastered by Brad Blackwood, there is a vast psychedelic sheen to the record which is as sonically impressive as it musically. An important release, maybe even a future Kiwi classic album, with an ounce of luck stale modern rock radio will pick up on the merits of Harvey Knows A Killer and give them the attention they so rightly deserve. s 3AMMY *AY $AWSON

).6/+% 4(% &529 $EN /F )NIQUITY Napier metal unit Invoke The Fury is the hybrid of past groups Omega Dawn, Gunt and the epic Saidaya. Great hooks and detuned riffage are just the foundation of traits that ‘Den Of Iniquity’ delivers. With as much in common with Pantera as they do Sepultura, Invoke The Fury are not for the faint hearted and mean business with each and every sludge-filled double kick pattern and death-growled vocal phrase. The twin guitar attack of guitarists Shane O’Dowd and Josh Graham is brutal and relentless but the genius arrangements of the songs create space and set up each level intensity brilliantly. Fist Fight is laden with some of the lowest death vocals I’ve heard. The guitars come together in true Slayer style on Resurrection, serving up dissonant harmonies and chainsaw paced riffing. If you need a dose of hard music look no further.

With gain set to 11, Den Of Iniquity is belligerent and very metal. s 3TU %DWARDS

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Some may recognise her name from folky duo We Stole The Sun, but, Emily Rice has carved out her own path with her solo sounds, taking a more electro/jazzy approach on this pretty fantastic EP. Opening track and single, You Held Me, makes a catchy intro with mysterious oohs slowly fading into beats and poetic lyrics. The ‘oohing’ recurs throughout many of the songs, connecting them together while each sounds completely different to the others. Afternoon and Interlude are the showcase songs for her harmonies, while Moab best shows off Rice’s vocal range and jazzy influences. Under The Sun shows Kimbra influences, though she has her own more measured take on that smart jazz-pop sound. I’m a sucker for lovely piano pieces, and so my favourite song on the EP is Afternoon, especially as it’s accompanied by her lovely vocals and harmonies. Overall this is a stunning jazzy, pop EP, demonstrating a musical talent (not long out of Auckland University’s School of Music) that can clearly cross genres. I am keen to hear what next musical offering this now Europe-dwelling Kiwi will give us. s 'RETA 9EOMAN

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Having been a huge Trinity Roots fan, and fan of other endeavours Warren Maxwell has put his talent to I was really excited about listening to this new album which certainly didn’t let me down. Maxwell says, in his thank yous, that he is never without his ancestors and we are introduced to them in the first track, Bully, which grabs the listener with a moteatea pulling you into this wharemāhana called Citizen. In true Trinity Roots’ style the songs are never of conventional length, which is reflective the journey you have to go on in each track. The music has space and clarity mixed with roughness influenced from the constant live jams these boys have when they play. It keeps you thinking and sometimes leaves you on the edge, then resolves perfectly and satisfyingly. You can still hear the slow style reggae the original trio made famous and beautiful female vocals from some of NZ’s finest, such as Ria Hall and Lisa Tomlins.

It also has elements of traditional Maori waiata subtly weaved through. Ben Lemi’s lyrics and Warren’s vocals and nylon string guitar in Musings of a Cloud are sublime and Tami Neilson’s voice in Village Man mesmerises. Produced by Trinity Roots, recorded at Surgery Studios by Lee Prebble and mastered by Mike Gibson at Munki Studios, ‘Citizen’ is a must for Trinity Roots’ fans to add to their too-small collection. s *AMIE -C#ASKILL

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SUBJECT2CHANGE: Artiste

Dunedin jazz-fusion band Subject2Change’s third album recorded in 2014 for Ode Records is an almost entirely improvised offering (the one exception being the first track s2c #21) – very much in the tradition and method of Miles Davis’s iconic fusion albums of the 1960s with sketches of ideas and structure being discussed before the recording session, but the actual assembly of each piece coming in post-production. Keyboards and trumpet player Trevor Coleman was at the helm of arranging/assembling each track, but I would find it hard to believe the other band members (Nick Cornish, saxophones; Dan Bendrups, trombone; David Harrison, guitar; Rob Burns, bass; Robbie Craigie, drums/percussion) did not have a role to play in bringing these pieces together in their final form. The idea of working in this way, a collaboration of musicians and improvisation within certain pre-arranged boundaries, is an enticing one from a musician’s point of view, and a happy one from the audience’s. Subject2Change has the right combination of musical personalities to pull it off, something I dare say not every band would be able to do, and it has led to a wonderful album. This is also quite a compact album – only seven tracks with an additional two remixes (one credited to composer Jeremy Mayall who mixed and mastered the album) – but it has such a spacious feel to it that each track feels longer than it actually is (in a good way), and yet it is still surprising when each track ends, leaving the listener wanting more. It is a very gentle sounding album, atmospheric and almost hypnotic, but don’t mistake it for being background music. There are also musical surprises and enchantments that keep the listener’s attention focused solely on the album. s !LEISHA 7ARD

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Out of the depths of Waiuku’s Revolver Studios has emerged this debut release of Auckland band Outside In. After having their project successfully funded through Kickstarter in late 2014, this progressive pop band has delivered a delightful five-track EP that is full of satisfying musical complexity and great pop hooks.

Adam Tobeck (drums) and Adam Willis (bass) prove a tight rhythm section, driving in Sophie’s Ghost but also not afraid to groove in Running. Jonnie Barnard’s (guitar) melodic lines in Go Quietly compliment the music in an unobtrusive manner, while Mikey Brown’s vocals move up and down fluidly in each track. Producers Djeisan Suskov and Jonathan Pearce have helped Outside In to achieve a crisp sounding debut offering. While ‘The Nature Of Dreams’ may be progressive in terms of musical style, it still feels accessible to a wide range of listeners due to its poppy vocal hooks. It’s a difficult thing to create a group of songs with such complexity yet easy listenability, but Outside In have achieved just that. s *ESSE !USTIN

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Formed in Christchurch in 2010, Blindfolded And Led To The Woods is a five-strong juggernaut that stretches across the genres of death metal, grindcore and mathcore. They released a debut EP, ‘Armed To The Teeth With Jelly Beans’ in early 2011, and in 2014 descended upon STL Audio in Wellington to set about recording this debut album under the recording/mixing and production guidance of Troy Kelly. Opening with the frantic, Fuck You Look Awesome, this is foot-down-hard-on-the-accelerator stuff with high octane guitar riffage exploding inside this V10. The twin exhaust system hanging off the back of this monster blows the thick, smoggy rhythm section into your lungs. The attention to detail is acute with each band member smashing his part out with accuracy.

Stuart Henley-Minchington and Jared Morgan wield the guitars, with Nick Smith on bass and Tim Stewart ferociously drumming. Stace Fifield’s tortured growls in Sorry You’re Not Invited leaves no doubt that you are not invited, and the ‘sorry’ part wasn’t meant. The intro to The Earwig flirts with a melodic and almost predictable power chord progression until they come along and shake you awake with all that complicated stuff; break-neck drumming and guitar riffs ripping through time signature changes. I was thrown a little with the intro to 26846, thinking that they may have softened a bit after half an hour of carnage. I was wrong as another tsunami of hard, accurate noise came crashing into my head. This album is perfectly arranged and ordered burning chaos. s #OLIN 3ELBY

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Miho Wada is an incredibly accomplished musician whose style is cited as ‘Afro-Cuban flute meets J-Pop’. She also proves discerning in her choice of talented musicians for her band, Miho’s Jazz Orchestra. As this is her seventh album and the MJO’s fourth output, the bar was already set pretty high. The 13 tracks are all performed with love and attention to detail, providing a rip-roaring interplay of flute, sax, electric violin, cello and guitars. Bursting straight into the bubbly and effervescent The Dark Side of Bouncy Castle, the audience is assured that this will be a night of frivolity and dancing. Most of the set is joyous and upbeat, you can almost feel the band members smiling along. Cherry Beer, a new song performed for the occasion, is notably slower – wistful and stirringly atmospheric. Between The Sheets showcases Miho’s sultry sax playing, titillating imagination… until she admits at the end of the song that the track was innocently written because she was too tired to get out of bed one morning. I definitely prefer the sax-led tracks, the jazz flute reminding me too much of Ron Burgundy serenading Baxter… However, the fans asked for a live set, and they sure as heck get a stellar toe-tapper. s #HLOE #AIRNCROSS

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Named after the famed Edvard Munch artwork rather than the classic Verlaines’ tune, Death And The Maiden are nonetheless from Dunedin and born of the same pure breed of musicianship that could come from nowhere else. This three-piece of Lucinda King on bass and vocals, Hope Robertson (ex Snapper, Bad Sav, Birdation) on guitar and drums, and the melodic programming of Danny Brady (Snapper, Thought Creature) on synth and keys have produced a debut that is itself an instant masterpiece. A mesmerising, enchanting and quietly ethereal body of work within seven special tunes. This electronic, mellow, haunting and moody collection touches on such influences as ’80s goth, Boards Of Canada, The Cure, Cranes, Cocteau Twins, Portishead, a chilled out HDU... the brew is heady, a tasteful depiction of light and dark with none of the cliches. With support coming from small Dunedin label Fishrider Records this is bang on and dead cool. s !NIA 'LOWACZ

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There are those who profess to value feel above technical ability, but one listen to this album will show that when you have both the results are exponentially more powerful. There’s something about a well-recorded classical guitar being wielded by a gifted player that resonates and NZ Guitar Quartet member Christopher Hill’s playing is very impressive, doubtless the result of a lot of study and practice. One instrument; a little reverb, head, heart and hands – that’s a combination that speaks directly to one’s soul. Kudos to recording genius Lee Prebble, his Neumann U67/U68, his AKG 414 and his ears. Mike Hogan’s Honours degree in composition is evidently wellearned as the works on this album are mesmerising and beautiful. They range from the large-format Matariki Suite to smaller, self-contained pieces. Judicious use of space gives real emotional weight to each note. I lack the technical knowledge to properly critique work such as this, so I’ll just say that no matter how clever the voicings or runs of notes, a novice like me can still listen and be moved. s "ING 4URKBY

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With ’90s-feeling beats and more than a hint of DJ Premier production style, ‘Broken Down Doors’ will appeal to fans of that era and lovers of easy listening hip hop music. The strength of this 17-track album is in the hooks and the vocalists’ performance. Kelly Rose’s lovely voice adds sweet characters to the drum heavy beats. Dyslo is a great lyricist, though some of the content is a little too influenced by American rap, which can detract from the fact he has great flow, timing and presence. Likewise, even though it has good production and is well-engineered, the beats can seem repetitive, the smoothness and influences leaving it sounding dated. Credit to SoulChef for the beats because it is solid, but I’d like to see what both Kelly Rose and Dyslo do with more current beats and perhaps a variety of producers. s (UIA (AMON

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THE ELECTRIC ERA: Sand Dunes and Bird Song Proclaiming their music as ‘Antipodean anti-gloss pop’ this threepiece Auckland indie rock act is led by the multi-talented Karsten Schwardt, known to NZM readers as a senior SAE tutor. As well as lead guitar and vocals, Schwardt wrote all the music and lyrics, engineered and co-produced. His band fellows are drummer Anna Monteith and bass player Leal Butler. Former member Brignall Wood rejoined the band for some sessions and helped with production. Many of the dozen songs on this album were honed during a nine-date tour of Germany back in 2012, with recording taking place in various studios over the next two years. The first listen through belonged to the criticisms of my analytical brain – some of the guitar and bass effects were jarringly distracting, vocals needed more conviction and melodic variety, and sometimes the sounds felt mushed together. But the more I listened, the more I heard the beauty of certain tracks. Atmospheric breakdowns and harmonies of One Million Light Bulbs, the rhythmical urgency and clear cut grooves of Object (World Of My Own) and the descending chordal motif of Small World #6 kept my ears riveted, as did the variety of interesting section breaks and chord palette. The Electric Era seem to enjoy comparisons with the seminal likes of The Verlaines and The Clean, and this album is definitely worth exploring if you’re a fan of ’80s synths and unadorned vocal simplicity, cut to modern grooves, interspersed with crunchy guitar and bass. s ,ISA 4AGALOA

WHĀIA and the MĀHICIAN: Whaia

Listening to Whāia I heard whakaako ora passed down from generation to generation, through whakapapa. And a picture of how Māori moved in the world pre-contact and how everyone can apply those teachings in our modern world. Each song has a message or story radiating positivity and hope. He mārino tēnei. The album is 15 years in the making, featuring a host of musicians offering haka, ukulele, saxophone and Rhodes. Different genres and influences show up from track to track, starting with a reggae-type feel, mixed with country and folk. Kōrero I Te Reo has

a heavy arrangement with a driving bass, a bit of distortion and some rock licks. Then we experience beautiful ballads plus ’80s funk mixed with a bit of Motown and a sunny song with an Island feel. Presented all in te reo Māori, Lois McIver’s vocals are smooth and clear with lovely rhythms in the lyrics. Leyton Geening compliments with his beats and synth and is obviously a huge influence on the album. It is a pleasure to listen to te reo in these different genres. Dick Reade, the engineer and co-producer (as well as mixing and mastering) has been with the project from the beginning. Artwork design is by Huia Hamon and McIver. Whāia and the Māhician have released a well-balanced album with good vibes, positivity and a sprinkle of poūri. Mīharo. s *AMIE -C#ASKILL

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It’s about time Dunedin this indie pairing of Isaac McFarlane and Bradley Craig, aka Two Cartoons, hit the bigger-time, I reckon.

These guys have been the darlings of student radio for too long, the rest of us need to hear them. They’ve been at it since early 2011, with hard yards and grubby stages appearing all over their CV. Their man-love for bands like Best Coast, Wavves and The Drums showed up on early efforts EPs ‘Jelly Tip Lips’ and follow up ‘Tiny Terrors’. Back then the songs were about love lost and the deep south home spirit, but the troubadors must travel. Since then there’ve been festivals, recordings in Thailand, a new home in London and this, a spritely effort that sways between squeaky, nifty Getting Green and a full over Peking Man/ Mockers’ number Harry Actually. Oh, yes, the shoulder pads are big on this one! And it has the best lines; ‘I always thought Ryan Gosling was a liar, with a six pack of desire…’

Yeah? The EP’s catchy title track had me intrigued. ‘A desert island getaway? A concrete Zanzibar… We’re more alive here than anyone.’ Is this really a bespoke attitude to their London OE? Zippy guitars and a drop of souring electro-synth, it’s got that instant appeal – expect it to pop up as a theme tune on the next quirky TV advert. Horizon Approaching also has a certain immediate familiarity with its driven chorus running in perfect cadence with the bass drum and snare beats and they build to an oceanic crashing climax. This is a satisfying (online release-only) EP that will, one day I hope, grow legs to walk to a major player. Attention well deserved. s 4IM 'RUAR

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MONTY BEVINS: Come Back Home EP

Monty Bevins is a storyteller with a lot of pop sensibilities, his acoustic guitar riffs are simple and the melodies flow over each other in ways that are easy to take in. His EP starts with a very familiar guitar sound that leads into the title track, just guitar, voice and hand drum. As things progress it gets a little darker and a little more raucous though nothing overboard, the songs running neatly into one another. Third track, Matters Of Magic, has a strong hint of Tiki Taane’s Always On My Mind hit in its staccato strummed rhythm. His voice is mostly soft but with a touch of gravel in it, so he can transfer from mild to something grittier with ease – shown mostly on upbeat closer Broken Wing, reminiscent of Nirvana ‘Unplugged’, albeit without any of the lush instrumentation. Things here are kept very simple; snare, kick, guitars, eggs, baking tray… In an era when many artists stride towards creating the next pop tune there is an appealing effortlessness, due to his poise, phrasing, song construction and production.

Bevis and his recording engineer/producer Michael Morris have created five songs that are `Þ > VÊi Õ} ÊÌ Ê ii«Ê ÃÌi iÀÃÊi ÌiÀÌ> i`Ê> `Êi }>}i`ÊÌ À Õ} ÕÌ°ÊUÊChris Dent

EMMA DAVEY: The Court Of Love

Starting strong and never fading, Wellington-based Emma Davey is out to show what she can do, ‘The Court of Love’ a show reel-like display of the genres she can sing. Lyrically the 11 tracks offer up tales of love and romance (from devotion to revenge) as promised, Davey showing her vocal range and skills in some of the slower ballads while giving added spice and energy in the rock and blues numbers. She has surrounded herself with talented guest musicians and a tight, energetic band, most of whom have performed with her under various monikers. Ana Christie of the Balkanistas (which Davey is also a member of) adds violin on many of the tracks, while Neil Billington (Neil Billington Band) lends his harmonica to the blues numbers.

Davey has been long active in the Wellington music scene, also founding the Disco Divas.

She has performed alongside David Feehan since 1997, and a jazz influence is evident in many of the tunes here. Recorded at Matrix Digital with bassist Martin Robertson helping her with production, this is a strong debut, a sound accomplishment from someone who has crafted and explored her sound and style over many years of diverse projects.

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YVETTE AUDAIN: Grooves Unspoken

Yvette Audain brings an eclectic mixture of iconic impressions and unique sounds to this classical music compilation The album begins with the uplifting Grooves Unspoken, a tonic featuring Audain on alto sax and rhythmic piano melodies of Hong Yul Yang. In Hazine (Treasure) a swimmingly good clarinet solo seemlessly merges Egyptian and Turkish influences with jazz. As this track winds down into mysterious eastern tones it becomes evident that Audain approaches music both creatively and professionally. The energy of live performance (captured, mixed and mastered

by Tim Dodd) must have had some effect as each piece has the gusto of expression.

Alto and tenor saxophones, clarinet and cello take the lead, delivering a variety of unique rhythms, expressions and inquisitive disambiguations. Hold Fast is all original – a true clarinet number with a Scottish influence, with bagpipes alternating flow and rythm.

Bulletproof Petals brings contrasts of soprano and baritone saxes for a rich sound, with the album ending on a delightful impression of the 1920s Charleston clave, which is an enjoyable divergence from the original thanks to the sardonic foxtrot intertwine. A most enjoyable collection. s 7ADE $ONK

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This six-track EP is fun, diverse and fun. Recorded at both The Lab and York Street has definitely given it that professional touch.

Winners of 2013 Smokefree Pacfica Beats comp, Strangely Arousing are a 5-piece and their EP contains the energy of live performance. All the members can really play; solid drums, tight bass, nice live horns coming through and vocalist/guitarist Lukas Wharekura refreshingly fuses te reo Māori into the songs. Kupenga is a rad track. Their music still has lots going in every track but it would be weird if a first EP didn’t have this crazy busy element to it, EV\Z ))

all first releases should. As the band evolve they will refine the ideas down and start to grow their own sound. The artwork is also fun and vibrant, reflecting the energy in the music. Overall this has a vibe similar to The Urge, a personal favourite funk/ska/rock band from the ’90s. It’s right with the next swell of new music coming through which will have loads of horn sections and that ska energy. Expect big things from this band if they keep moving, uplifting vibe and righteous lyrics. Ka mau to wehi. s (UIA (AMON

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Mel Parsons, Westport-born now Christchurch-based folk chanteuse, has been busy of late, touring through the USA ahead of the release of this third album, which follows 2009’s ‘Over My Shoulder’ and ‘Red Grey Blue’ from 2011. Parsons released the first single from ‘Drylands’, the rhythmic Far Away in February, though fans will be familiar with it, as she performed it as part of Fly My Pretties’ ’The Homeland Recordings‘ album and tour. ‘Drylands’ has a polished sound – it was recorded at The Surgery in Wellington, and produced by Parsons and guitarist Gerry Paul. The album features well-known musicians including vocalist/guitarist Ron Sexsmith, cellist Vyvienne Long and double-bassist Trevor Hutchinson, all of whom add to the full, lush sound achieved. While a folk album, there are elements of country, blues and singer/ songwriter balladry here – the latter style effectively used on the haunting, plaintive Don’t Wait. Lyrically, romantic relationships are a recurring theme. Parsons tells a good story on Far North Coast and the noir-ish Get out Alive. She has many talents, from her dusty voice to her way with melodies, and this highly accessible album will only broaden her appeal. s !MANDA -ILLS

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Weightless is an album “exploring light and dark and celebrating the spirit of transformation.” Produced by Louis Bernstone at his Ellamy Studios, the musical landscape laid by Sally Stockwell’s musicians creates a playground through which her vocals seamlessly weave and float. Whether it be to tease, teach a lesson, tell a story or lament, it’s easy to drift away on the tonal colours and dynamics that complement the overall picture painted by the lyrics and her vocal delivery. The music isn’t complex and that’s to its advantage, as is the simplicity of the album – you don’t have to think, just let go and feel. The breakthrough moments are amazing destinations, but it was the underlying current of melancholy and longing in the compositions that had me hooked.

I can’t wait to experience these songs live and if you’re a fan of Tori Amos, or NZ’s own Victoria Girling-Butcher, I’d certainly recommend you give this a listen. s ,ISA 4AGALOA

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How does a swinging four-piece blues-y trad jazz band sound so big? It certainly helps that the members play multiple instruments are no slouches. Matt Enright, Adrian Jensen, Nils Olsen and Daniel Yeabsley put a greasy New Orleans feel on guitar, banjo, trumpet, clarinet, sax, or whatever else they feel like playing. Their versions of standards like St James Infirmary are played straight enough for the easy listeners, but with enough feel and virtuosity for the enthusiast. It’s not all songs by dead jazz guys either – Enright’s own Remember The Days fits in perfectly with a Django-esque feel. The bass saxophone makes a good replacement for the more commonly-used sousaphone, and I love the way the rhythm is shared around the band for a truly swinging feel. With different instruments playing on different beats you get a good ‘jump’ vibe and it also gives each instrument room to shine, rather than having to fight for sonic space. You don’t have to be a jazz fan to enjoy dancing and drinking. s "ING 4URKBY

To submit your album or EP for review in Fresh-Cut, please send TWO copies along with a brief bio to NZ Musician, PO Box 99-315, Newmarket, Auckland 1149. It must be available for sale and only CDs with completed artwork are forwarded for review.

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It’s another name designed to obfuscate, Quail State being the musical output of just one man, Jono Aidney. Dave Parker has known Aidney for about eight years and says that for about half of that time he’s been working on Quail State’s first album. They first met when Parker was doing sound for ska band Jonny Doom and the Forcefields, and again later with Aidney’s indie-pop duo Hold Dear.

With Aidney these days living in Melbourne, the pair caught up as interviewer and subject while he was in Auckland recently for a listening party/art exhibition, followed by a solo live gig at Auckland’s Wine Cellar to mark the release of his surprisingly personal ‘Volcanic Hazards of Auckland’.

Quail State

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t was around the time of boy/girl harmony pop act Hold Dear disbanding in 2011 that Jono Aidney started working on the Quail State album in secret, in bedrooms, hotels and hospital beds. It’s another disparate direction for his musical journey.

“I kind’a wanted to go back to that ’90s thing when people weren’t afraid to use flangers and phasers and thick harmonic distortion, like the bands I used to listen to when I was younger.”

I learnt of Quail State and the album a year later, when Jono got in touch about replacing his temporary computer drums with real ones.

“I knew I wanted to re-do the drums with real acoustic drums, and at first I thought maybe I could do something like what I had been doing with one of my previous projects – with just a floor tom and tambourine, and snare and stuff.

But by the time I got to that point productionwise I definitely needed a drummer to come in and play drums.”

Jono played all of the instruments on ‘Volcanic Hazards of Auckland’ and recorded everything himself except for the drums, for which he called in Stu Harwood (Paquin, Proton Beast). We set about recording them over a few days at my little bedroom studio in Oratia.

But why did it take so long to get released?

Life still happens while you’re recording an album and for Jono a lot of life happened. He moved countries, he changed jobs, he travelled, but most of his time seemed to be spent in a hospital bed or in fact under the knife. Surgeries to repair other surgeries that were supposed to repair previous surgeries – Jono has ulcerative colitis, a condition for which, in a lot of cases, major surgery is just the beginning. Unlike Kanye West, this wasn’t always a productive time for recording.

“I had to re-record a lot. It turns out you tend to make a lot of bad decisions on prescription painkillers.”

It’s not just music that he has been working on, there is a novel (which may be released in the future) and art, that both tie into the the album’s volcano theme. Instead of selling CDs at his album launch Jono opted to sell prints, one-off pieces of merch and original pieces of

art from a selection of artists he curated.

“I picked Auckland artists who I knew personally, whose work I liked, and who would interpret the volcanic hazards theme in ways that were different from one another. I think everyone did a great job of capturing the familiar volatility of life in a small city. Because I had no physical music media on offer, the paintings, prints and craft objects became the purchase, and each purchase came with a code for a high quality digital download.”

Selling prints allowed the focus to be on the art itself, instead of a means to an end for people to get the music.

“I hate the idea of charging more for the music to accommodate the cost of a little plastic box for it to go in.”

After recording the live drums back in 2012, Jono went to Portland, Oregon, before having more surgery. He had made a few friends through bands from Portland that Hold Dear had supported, so decided to take a summer break, returning inspired by his peers there.

“All of those guys shared this idea that music could really be an art form, which I’d never thought of before, I don’t know why.

Up until then all of the bands I’d been in and around, we weren’t doing it as anything more than a hobby. We were doing it because we enjoyed hanging out and that’s just what we did in the weekends, we all went to see bands play and eventually we all started our own bands. Up in Portland it seemed that all of these people I was around had a real sense of artistry and really carefully curated everything they do with their music.”

Rather than a Civil Defence warning, it turns out that the volcanoes of ‘Volcanic Hazards of Auckland’ are those people you don’t want to bump into, for fear of that volcano ‘erupting’ so to speak. Some of the songs are quite personal, yet he seems unworried that releasing this album might cause some volcanic activity in his own life.

“Most of the specific references are such small details in the moments I’m describing; a turn of phrase borrowed from a fight, or wordplay around the identity of the real character. You’d have to really know what you

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were looking for to find yourself in a song. A lot of the stuff that feels specific to a person is actually about a composite character; where I’ll weave similar stories or themes into one story. So the songs are deeply personal, and very open, but in a way that protects identities.

Or maybe just in a way that makes everyone wonder if the song is about them.”

He’s been living in Melbourne for three years but currently has no big plans for an Australian release. Rather it was important, he says, for him to release it in Auckland as it’s the central focus of the album.

“I feel like the album captures this journey that happened at a point in my life when I’d been desperate to leave Auckland for various reasons, and I made this pilgrimage to a place I’d heard so much about – and was kind of impressed, but in a different way than I’d expected. Then I came back and saw the city I came from in a different light. That story kind’a ends before I moved to Melbourne, so Melbourne never felt that relevant to this project. I’ll give it a good push over there eventually, but I felt like the people that’d be most responsive to it would be here.”

He hasn’t just been working on this album either, admitting to a backlog of music that has just been waiting for this album to come out.

“I’ve been writing and recording other things during this production process and I had the choice to either get it sounding right and then release it, or move on and start releasing some of the newer stuff, but I thought I should give it some justice and release it properly. For me it’s a really important stake in the ground and I’m glad that I’ve done this.”

And what is in Quail State’s future?

“One of my ambitions with Quail State is at some point to turn it into a band. I’ve got maybe one more record up my sleeve to come out after this one and hopefully at that point I’ll be able to assemble some people and come back and tour it properly, Australia too.”

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Photo: David Parker

Disrupted Eruptions

OUT ON THE STREET Relishing the chance to remember the ANZAC sacrifices with the freedom of local industry news, gossip, rumour and guesswork Actions Deserving Recognition

Interference from HQ

Battlefield Losses

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had this sort-of explanation for the show getting the chop.

“Over the last six or seven weeks there has been rumours and speculation about why the Axe Attack show has not been on air. After having my usual break during the Xmas period there were a number of problems that developed technically and strategically from the radio station‘s perspective regarding timing for return to air of the show that arose. It has now been agreed by both parties that the show will not return on The Rock radio station.’ The digital version can be found on www.iheart.com/live/ the-axe-attack-6848.

UÊ /> ÌiÊ *À âiÊ v > ÃÌÃÊ J*i>ViÊ ÃÕÀ«À Ãi`Ê Ê >ÀV ]Ê Ìi }Ê fans via social media that their Auckland show scheduled for Friday 13 would be their last. First thought a ploy to sell Ì V iÌÃÊv ÀÊÌ iÊà Ü]ÊÌ iÊL> `Ê >ÌiÀÊV v À i`ÊÌ iÞÊÜiÀiÊ `ii`Ê Ã« ÌÌ }Ê Õ«]Ê ÃÌ> Ì ÞÊ > }Ê Ì i Ê >Ê Ãi Ì i Ì> Ê fave for the Taite. With members now living across the />à > Ê> `Ê iÜiÀÊÃÕL «À iVÌÃÊ}> }Ê}À Õ `]ÊÌ iÊ Õ}i ÞÊ Ài}>À`i`Ê «Ê «Ê ÕÌv ÌÊiÛ `i Ì ÞÊ`iV `i`ÊÌ ÊÀiÃÌÊJ*i>Vi° UÊ /> iÊ V>ÀiÊ ÕÌÊ Ì iÀi°Ê Ê ÃÌÕ`ÞÊ LÞÊ Australia’s Victoria University has found that people who work in the entertainment industry there are significantly more likely Ì ÊÃÕvviÀÊvÀ Ê i Ì> Ê i> Ì Ê«À L i Ã]Ê>ÀiÊ«> `Ê ÕV Ê iÃÃÊ than others and have higher rates of suicide. The work i Û À i ÌÊ ÃÊ `iÃVÀ Li`Ê >ÃÊ ¼Õ i> Ì Þ]Ê vÌi Ê ` Û Ã Ûi]Ê competitive and lacking social support.’ After the Australian Road Crew Collective identified 70 roadies who had died «Ài >ÌÕÀi ÞÊ Ê Óä£Ó]Ê > ÞÊ vÀ Ê ÃÕëiVÌi`Ê ÃÕ V `i]Ê Australian charity Entertain Assist decided to find out why.

Looking at roadies and equipment operators the report confirmed that more than half had considered suicide or >`Ê ÃÕ V `> Ê Ì Õ} ÌÃ]Ê LÕÌÊ iÊ >`Ê Ã Õ} ÌÊ i «°Ê / iÊ ÃÌÕ`ÞÊ ÃÊV à ÃÌi ÌÊÜ Ì ÊÀiÃi>ÀV Ê ÊÌ iÊ1-]ÊÜ V Êv Õ `Ê performing artists live much shorter lives on average than the rest of the working community. The report also found that entertainment industry workers are paid significantly iÃÃÊÌ > ÊÌ iÊÜ `iÀÊ« «Õ >Ì °Ê*iÀv À }Ê>ÀÌ ÃÌÃÊÀiVi Ûi`Ê > Ê >ÛiÀ>}iÊ V iÊ vÊ f{{]ÈääÊ Þi>ÀÊ Þi>À]Ê > `Ê Ã iÊ ÃÕ«« ÀÌÊ Ü À iÀÃÊ ÕÃÌÊ fÎ ]ÎääÊ qÊ Ü iÊ Ì iÊ >ÛiÀ>}iÊ ÕÃÌÀ> > ÊÃ> >ÀÞÊ ÃÊ fÇn]äää° UÊ/ ÃiÊ ÕV ÞÊi Õ} ÊÌ Ê >ÛiÊLii Ê}iÌÌ }ÊÀi}Õ >ÀÊ ÃÌ> ments of new NZ music via NZ On Air’s monthly Kiwi Hit Disc have now received their last of this institutional «À iVÌ°Ê >À }ÊÌ iÊ>}i VÞ½ÃÊ- ÛiÀÊ> ÛiÀÃ>ÀÞ]Ê <Ê" Ê Air have produced a Special Edition Kiwi Hit Disc called ¼QÓxÊ ÝÊ ÓxR½]Ê Ü V Ê V Õ`iÃÊ ÓxÊ }Ài>ÌÊ Ã }ÃÊ vÀ Ê Ì iÊ first quarter century of the organisation. It also marks the end of the Kiwi Hit Disc which is being rebranded as NewTracks from April. NewTracks will still be a 28-track monthly compilation of new radioÀi>`ÞÊ Ài i>ÃiÃÊ LÞÊ <Ê >ÀÌ ÃÌÃÊ qÊ LÕÌÊ ÌÊ will be delivered digitally via the new ÜÜÜ° iÜÌÀ>V ðV ° âÊ Ã ÌiÊ À>Ì iÀÊ Ì > Ê >ÃÊ >Ê

°Ê / iÊ Ü Ê ÌÊ ÃVÊ >ÃÊ >Ê £nä Û Õ i]Ê ÓÓ Þi>ÀÊ history. The first was produced in 1993 and has since `i ÛiÀi`ÊV ÃiÊÌ Êx]äääÊ iÜÊà }ÃÊÌ ÊiÛiÀÞÊÀ>` ÊÃÌ>Ì Ê and other outlets across the country.

industry types have been engaged to provide selections of }i ÀiÃÊ V Õ` }Ê* «]Ê > ViÊEÊ iVÌÀ V]Ê ÌÊEÊ ` i]Ê «Ê «ÊEÊ, ]Ê, V ÊEÊ iÌ> ]Ê ÊEÊ Õ ÌÀÞÊ> `Ê,i}}>iÊ EÊ, ÌðÊÜÜÜ°> ÌÀ>V ðV ° â UÊ 7 `iÀ }Ê Ü iÀiÊ Ì Ê Ã ÌÊ Þ ÕÀÊ iÜÊ > }Ê /À>V à funded music video? Then look no further than Porirua City which has announced itself is the first local body to join in a new NZ On Air initiative called Bring It Home. Artists who film in or use resources in the area v ÀÊ >Ê Õà VÊ Û `i Ê Ü Ê ÀiVi ÛiÊ fÓäääÊ vÀ Ê * À ÀÕ>Ê ÌÞÊ

Õ V ]Ê Ê >`` Ì Ê Ì Ê Ì iÊ ÕÃÕ> Ê fÈäääÊ > }Ê /À>V ÃÊ video funding. The idea is to encourage the filming of music videos outside of the main cities and the agency are keen to establish similar schemes in other regions. NZ " Ê ÀÊ Õà VÊ > >}iÀÊ Ài `> Ê- ÞÌ ÊÃ>ÞÃÊÌ iÊ} > Ê ÃÊÌ Ê Ã ÜV>ÃiÊL Ì Ê>ÀÌ ÃÌÃÊ> `ÊÀi} Ã]Ê>ÃÊÜi Ê>ÃÊÌ Êi V ÕÀage more artists from outside the big centres to consider >«« Þ }Ê v ÀÊ > }Ê /À>V ÃÊ vÕ ` }°Ê Ì>VÌÊ * À ÀÕ>½ÃÊ -i ÀÊ iÛi « i ÌÊ `Û ÃiÀÊ>ÌÊv J«VV°} ÛÌ° â

UÊ Flying Nun/Flying Out and office-mates Arch Hill ,iV À` }ÃÊ> `Ê iÀ « > iÊ Õà VÊ >ÛiÊ Ûi`ÊÌ }iÌ iÀÊÌ Ê>Ê Ì Àii iÛi ÊLÕ ` }Ê>ÌÊÌ iÊÌ «Ê vÊ* ÌÌÊ-Ì]Ê ÕÃÌÊ vvÊ ÕV > `½ÃÊ K’ Rd. The former Shaver Shop frontage will become a Þ }Ê "Õ̽ÃÊ Ü Ê ÀiV À`Ê ÃÌ Ài]Ê «i }Ê v ÀÊ LÕà iÃÃÊ Ê ,iV À`Ê-Ì ÀiÊ >Þ]Ê «À Ê£n°Ê/ iÊ >À}iÊL>Ãi i ÌÊ>Ài>Ê ÃÊ i>À >À i`Ê>ÃÊ>ÊÃÌ V ÊÀ ÉiÛi ÌÊë>Vi]ÊÜ Ì Ê vv ViÃÊv ÀÊ the various businesses upstairs.

UÊ >Û }Êv ÀÃÌÊ >`iÊ ÌÊ Ì ÊbFMÊ>ÌÊÌ iÊÌi `iÀÊ>}iÊ vÊ£{]Ê Hugh SundaeÊ ÃÊL>V Ê>ÃÊ Ê vÊ ÕV > `½ÃÊÃÌÕ`i ÌÊÀ>` Ê ÃÌ>Ì °Ê iÌÜii Ê Ì ÃiÊ `>ÌiÃÊ i½ÃÊ ` iÊ >Ê L Ì]Ê ÃÌ ÞÊ Ê Ì iÊ i` >]Ê Ü À }Ê Û>À ÕÃÊ LÃÊ iÀiÊ > `Ê ÛiÀÃi>Ã°Ê Sundae seems every bit as happy as the station’s staff > `ÊÛ Õ ÌiiÀÃÊ>L ÕÌÊÌ iÊ>«« Ì i Ì]ÊÜ Ì Ê>ÊÀ> }iÊ vÊ environmental changes already implemented.

UÊInto The EastÊ >ÛiÊà >Ài`Ê1-f£ä]äääÊvÀ ÊÜ À `Ü `iÊ music discovery platform Artist Signal. The award-winning Invercargill duo follow in the footsteps of Christchurch rock act Ashei and country rock chick Katie Thompson.

Upgraded Field Artillery UÊ Ã Ê«>ÀÌÊ vÊÌ iÊ iÜÊNZ On Air music look are curated « >Þ ÃÌÃÊ >Û> >L iÊ Ê 9 Õ/ÕLi]Ê -« Ì vÞÊ > `Ê - Õ `V Õ`Ê under the AllTracks banner. A selection of artists and COB 6eg^$BVn '%&*

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FY QBU GJMFT ° MBODF QPXFMM Lance Powell has just recently joined Wilco on a live sound gig that will see him touring the globe with one of the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s finest alternative rock acts. Having been based in NYC since early 2012, for the last few years he has been an in-house engineer at Platinum Sound, working with hundreds of big name and no-name acts, across a wide variety of genres.

Albums heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s worked on have got to the top of a variety Billboard charts (RnB, hip hop and reggae) and even been nominated for Grammy awards.

A month out from his next big shift Lance spoke with Lisa Tagaloa.

â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Concrete jungle where dreams are made of, thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s nothing you canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t do, now youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re in New York.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Empire State of Mind, Angela Hunte.

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aving risen through the ranks at MAINZ from student to tutor, where one â&#x20AC;&#x153;golden yearâ&#x20AC;? aligned his destiny with producer/ musician Joel Little (of Lorde and beyond fame), engineer Jordan Stone (Roundhead Studios) and musician/radio DJ Fleur Jack (The Twitch), Lance Powell is a no nonsense, makes-things-happen recording professional â&#x20AC;&#x201C; with a career trajectory that has already taken him to a high-end New York studio, and work with artists including Melissa Etheridge, Jennifer Hudson, Miguel, Jess Glynne, Tank and others he canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t name. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I always dreamed about coming to New York, so I came here as a visitor in 2008. Worked in a summer camp teaching guitar, and spent a month in New York cityâ&#x20AC;Ś I just fell in love with the place. The next year I was going to London, just for a holiday and I stopped off again on the way through. Both times I was really sad to leave and I remember thinking, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Right, next time Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m just not gonna leave.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; I managed to get myself a 12 month working visa, sold all my stuff, quit my job and moved out of my house and just moved over here.â&#x20AC;?

He describes his New York as â&#x20AC;&#x153;a whole crazy worldâ&#x20AC;?, exciting, but not as glamorous as he had thought it would be. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not all stars and parties, thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a lot of hard work that goes on behind the scenes."

Most people, he observes, are nowhere near as successful as they look, and it is commonplace for musicians to be up until 4 or 5 in the morning every day and night, sending music out, recording more, collaborating with others, practising, rehearsing etc. It is a non-stop, all or nothing mentality conducive to reaching oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s potential â&#x20AC;&#x201C; or failing completely. Personally he admits that there has been no such thing as work/life balance. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Honestly. We average around 90 or 100 hours in the studio a week. We start about one in the afternoon and finish around five in the morning, six days a week. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s really rewarding, but I tell people not to become a sound engineer, at least not in music. It pushes you as hard as you can be pushed really. Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s always a lot of pressure.â&#x20AC;?

Referencing an early scene in Flight of the Conchords, he laughs that

making people understand him was one of the biggest challenges, but admits he was lucky to land on his feet. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I came over with no job lined up, but I had friends to crash with and a little bit of savings. I knew I had 12 months to make something happen and if I wanted to stay, I needed a job and sponsor. That was my biggest challenge. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The very first job I got was an internship at Spin Recording Studios, sorted out over the phone with a guy that used to be in the Trans-Siberian Orchestra (a major rock band over here), and his partner who has done a lot of songwriting for people like Britney Spears and so on. I made sure I was indispensable and within a few weeks I was doing paid sessions.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Lance is the perfect kind of engineer. The one you want around you when youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re creating because he constantly listens and he doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t ever assume anything, yet is completely prepared when you need something.

He thinks like you do and thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s what makes him such a great engineer.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Melissa Etheridge

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â&#x20AC;&#x153;The job at Platinum Sound [where he has been an in-house engineer for the last two years] was the same sort of thing. I made sure all the clients wanted me to help â&#x20AC;&#x201C; same thing with the engineers and producers â&#x20AC;&#x201C; so when my visa finished up, they needed to sponsor me so I could stay on! Getting thrown into the deep end of the pool and managing to swim rather than sink is one of the biggest successes Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve had."

He says it was unusual the Platinum Sound vacancy was advertised. â&#x20AC;&#x153;One of the engineers left and none of the interns were quite ready to step up, so they had to look outside. It worked out perfectly and I feel like Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve made the most of my time living in New York so far.â&#x20AC;?

About a week after starting there he had a session with an artist called Miguel. Lance says he had no idea who he was, and actually thought he was one of the interns heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d been passing. They got on well and Miguel got him to do all the later album sessions with him. â&#x20AC;&#x153;That album came out at #3 on the [Billboard] charts, and he got five or six Grammy nominations out of it, so I got to have a Grammy nomination myself, which was nice.â&#x20AC;?

Miguel did win a Grammy that year, but it wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t for one of the songs Lance had worked on, so he missed out on getting his own statue. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It ended up being quite an influential album, like everybody wanted to sound like Miguel after that. There were no tricks, we used a $99

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microphone on all his vocals…”

He reckons he’s worked with a couple of hundred acts over the last two years, with many of the recordings yet to be heard outside of the studio. A few he is not at liberty to name.

“When they’re in the studio there’s no paparazzi, there’s no media. We’ve got a rule here that it’s really private; we don't generally take photos of people or ask for autographs.

We’re not groupies, so when they come into the studio it’s like their little safe haven. There’s very much a vibe in the studio. We tell people not to bring their bullshit here.”

There are plenty of others that he rates, Jennifer Hudson, the dumped-from-American Idol now Oscar-winning singer being one.

“She was really down to earth, really fun to work with. We did a couple of songs on the album but that was interesting just to watch how the whole machine was rolling.”

English singer/songwriter Jess Glynne is another he recommends watching out for, along with Niyke Heaton the Instagram/ Youtube sensation whose EP garnered a similar buzz as Jennifer Hudson’s when released about the same time.

Songwriter Angela Hunte, a Trinidad native (and a good friend of Lance) is another.

“Alex Boye is one of the most exciting guys I’ve worked with. A Nigerian who grew up in Britian but lives over here now. He’s unbelievably talented, and a really nice guy who had hit rock bottom and managed to turn his life around.”

Talking about the bigger artists, Lance regularly refers to ‘the machine’, explaining it as what takes an artist or a song/album and makes it big – agents, management, PR, promo, radio, legal teams and so on. Of course alongside the amazing performers, there are always a few less deserving.

“You get some real divas and arseholes in the industry but I’ve been really lucky, I’ve had no horror stories, or people turning really bad.

I’ve seen some real shit artists get the machine behind them and then do really well out of it.

One of our jobs is to take people with no talent and make them sound talented! So it’s quite interesting when you hear people give them some critical acclaim and you’re thinking, ‘No, this is what we did for you!’”

It’s easy to sense that it is his natural Kiwi-ness, alongside hard work, that has brought him quite quick success.

“People skills have got me a long way over here, I get along well with everyone who comes through. After you get a few credits and names under your belt, your track record gives you some credibility and respect from the community around you.

“Confidence is important, but sometimes all it takes is that one circumstance, or that one person who believes in you, to make some headway. But you need to be willing to work harder than everyone, and believe in yourself in the first instance.”

Melissa Etheridge rates as one of his highlight clients and recently returned for more recording.

“This time last year Melissa came and did her first sessions with us. She liked it so much in the studio that she invited a whole bunch of us to go on tour with her. I went as one of her guitar techs and I just kind’a chilled with her for six weeks.”

That experience inspired him to chase the chance to work on live sound engineering with alternative rock band Wilco – which he is set to do from mid-April.

“I thought one of the crew was friends with someone in the Wilco group, but it turns out he had just heard about it. So I reached out and talked with the Wilco tour manager and we sorted it out.”

Over the last few years he’s had to turn down opportunities to work in London, Africa and Jamaica.

“Hopefully now I will be open to do that stuff, but whenever Wilco go on tour I will be with them. This year we have 12 or 13 weeks of tours coming up, so there will be quite a bit of down time to do other work. Next year it should be a more solid touring schedule.”

After three years in NYC he says it’s not so much of an adventure any more and he is keen to use his time overseas to do some more travelling with live sound touring.

“I want to have a career in the music industry but also have a life, that’s one of the reasons I decided to jump ship.”

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Mel Parsons

For the last two years Mel Parsons has flown the NZ flag at the Folk Alliance International, the only Kiwi invited to showcase at the four-day conference and music fair held in Kansas City in late February. Her 8pm Saturday slot this year had her up against Jimmy La Fave and seven other acts across the nine showcase stages. From there Parsons embarked on a substantial Canadian tour, from which the West Coast native had literally just returned when Sammy Jay Dawson caught up with her in Christchurch, to ask about ‘Drylands’, her soon-to-be released third album.

Wish Her Well M

el Parsons is no stranger to celebrity collaboration. A regular touring companion to both Anika Moa and Fly My Pretties, she’s spent the last seven years touring, recording, (twice a folk category finalist for the NZ Music Awards), and constantly building her fan base here and overseas. It has, however, been her collaboration with the writer of Hank The Wrestling Shark, that led to a bunch of international musicians working on her third album.

Born in Dublin, guitarist/author/songwriter/producer Gerry Paul grew up in Lower Hutt. He made a name playing and touring with Irish band Gráda, that he co-founded in 2001. In 2010 Paul scooped the grand prize in the prestigious international John Lennon Songwriting Competition with Hank, the first song from his album of children’s songs titled ‘Tales from the Sea and an Elephant Tree’. These days he divides his time between NZ and Europe, and since helping co-produce Parsons’ new album has appeared regularly on stage as her industrious guitarist and wild-haired sidekick.

‘Drylands’ stands as a high-water mark of Parsons’ progression as a songwriting talent. Moving seamlessly through a range of landscapes, imagery, genres and emotions – it is patently candid and honest in its story telling – including one, Get Out Alive, about crashing her car on the way home. She jokes about having to tell her mother about that accident before the album came out and she heard the song. “‘Drylands’ is my third album, and so I suppose it’s just a natural development of what I do. I’ve spent the three years since my last album [2011’s ‘Red Grey Blue‘] touring pretty solidly, and this has to have an effect on my writing and performing. Hopefully it’s an improvement!

“So while the production, sonically might be a little different, the music is more a continuation rather than a departure. It’s still me playing the songs I’ve written, it’s just that fortunately I’m lucky enough to be doing this with the people that help inspire me.”

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One notable inspiration, and possibly the most exciting collaboration, was Canadian singer/songwriter Ron Sexsmith, who contributes vocals to one of the album’s most memorable tracks, Don’t Wait.

The song needed another voice and when asked who she would best like to sing on it she flippantly answered with his name, only to have the idea turned back to her to action. After some initial hesitation Parsons decided to send him an email. A long-time admirer of Sexsmith’s work, she laughingly describes as being written like a nerdy young fan from the other side of the world, with a link to the track. The reply email was surprisingly prompt, and surprisingly positive.

“I wasn’t expecting him to say ‘yes’, that’s for sure!” she recalls. “I’ve been a fan of his for a long time and early on in the process, I thought it would be great to have him feature on a song. Initially I was nervous about asking, but I thought there would be no harm in getting in touch... what’s the worst that could happen? Turns out the best thing happened, and he was happy to be involved.”

Album recording sessions began at Lee Prebble’s Surgery Studio in Wellington, late in 2014. It was Irish-Kiwi Gerry Paul’s involvement in the project that led to Irish musicians Vyvienne Long (Damien Rice) and Trevor Hutchinson (The Waterboys) lending a hand on cello and double bass respectively. New York-based Kiwi Andrew Keoghan adds vocals on the hauntingly slow-burning Friend, one of the more introspective tracks on the album.

“I’ve been lucky enough to have some great musicians come in and guest on the album. Anika Moa, who I’ve worked with before, is a master of her craft and has a special knack for harmonies. Anji Sami and Lisa Tomlins also join in on backing vocals, and Ed Zuccollo, who also played on my first album, added piano and Hammond organ. Gerry played most of the electric and acoustic guitars, Craig Terris of Bunnies On Ponies’ fame plays drums, and my long-time bassist Aaron Stewart completed the line-up.

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“We had a super cool crew working on ‘Drylands’”, she continues. “I don’t want to say it was an ‘organic process’ because that’s a bit cliche, but it all came together in a very natural way. We were in the studio working on these songs, thinking about who we’d like to work with, and luckily for me the people that we reached out to were keen to be involved.”

The mind-bending transcontinental organisation of the musicians is an impressive feat, and truly helps brings the vastness of some of her songs to life, but shouldn’t distract from just how far Parsons has progressed since her first release.

2009’s ‘Over My Shoulder’ went to became a NZ Music Award finalist for Best Folk Album of the Year. Almost stark in comparison, it illustrates how Parsons has developed her art. Regularly touring, and playing festivals both in NZ and throughout Australia, Germany, Canada, UK and Ireland, has also seen her on a steady upward trajectory as a performer.

Her sophomore release was 2011’s ‘Red Grey Blue’. While being a first foray into broader instrumentation and arrangements, it saw her channel an altogether more haunting feel to her songs. Recorded around Auckland and produced by Jeremy Toy, it featured a large cast of instrumental and vocal guests, again including friends Moa and Sami, as well as Gerry Paul on banjo.

Third time round she had the confidence to be co-producer of ‘Drylands’ alongside Paul, and the recording was done at Surgery Studios.

“I’ve worked with Lee [Prebble] a few times before. Before the actual album sessions I went in to the studio at the start of 2014 to feel out a few of the songs on tape, and we had a great old time as we always do. Lee is a real master, he’s brilliant to work with. Being in the studio can be a pretty stressful time, as you could imagine, especially considering everyone’s schedules, but Lee is great at making it feel very relaxed, and of course the studio itself has a great atmosphere.”

Stepping into the studio straight off a five-week stint on the road, Parsons and Paul enjoyed the ideal situation of having already road-tested the new album material. Hearing the songs being sung by an expansive line-up of touring buddies did much to shape the sonic template of what would become ‘Drylands’, most notably Far Away, the album opener and lead single.

“Far Away was originally performed with Fly My Pretties, who I’ve been touring with since 2013. It started its life as a big song with a 15-piece band, and I wanted to recreate that big live sound in the studio. We called in a bunch of local singers from around Wellington to make an impromptu choir, and got everyone clapping their hands and stomping their feet.

It was really cool to be able to re-capture the vibe of something we did as a live experience in the studio.”

‘Drylands’ provides many such stand out moments. The country-tinged Alberta Sun and Driving Man, bring to mind the vast expanse of life on the roads of North America. First Sign Of

Trouble reads like a hymn for the downtrodden, whilst the likes of Friend and Down So Long poignantly recall a more stripped back Mel Parsons of years past. It’s no surprise to find her

me and pre-ordered the album, which is a huge help – and also reassuring to know that people are keen to hear more.”

2015 promises to be a busy year for Parsons, starting shortly after our interview with performances with Fly My Pretties in Australia, including the Byron Bay Bluesfest.

With ‘Drylands’ seeing its official release in April on her own Cape Road Recordings label, she has a nationwide tour of NZ kicking off at Auckland’s Tuning Fork and taking in 23 dates through until mid May. “It’s been a pretty busy few years,” she concludes. “The constant touring has been great, but I’m looking forward to going to a tropical Island somewhere and not turning on a computer or a phone for a couple of weeks.”

“I thought it would be great to have Ron Sexsmith feature on a song. Initially I was nervous about asking, but I thought there would be no harm in getting in touch... what’s the worst that could happen?” support is growing beyond the borders of the ‘folk’ tag, and this new album gives a glimpse of what her talent as a story teller has yet to yield.

“I was very humbled by the response we had before the album was even released. I’m fortunate to have a very keen and supportive fan base – a lot of people have gotten behind

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CVJMEJOH CMPDLT with Thomas Goss

Learning to Say ‘No’

I

surprised myself the other day. An overseas client called with an urgent request for a rush job – by the end of the month – and I told them that I couldn’t do it.

I’m currently finishing a huge project that’s taking months to complete, after which I’m commissioned to do two other large projects.

There’s simply no way to fit in the request, as fun as it would be. So I regretfully had to decline the offer.

This doesn’t happen too often. Not that I desperately try to take every job that comes my way - instead, I’ve worked very carefully as a freelance creative musician to develop dependable client contacts with people who regularly need my services. The result is that work tends to come in cycles that I can cope with, and therefore I rarely have to turn anyone down, even the occasional rush job like this one. It’s great to be able to keep everyone happy, especially myself – I get a nice variety of different types of projects.

Of course, as a breakout musician I took every gig that was offered, and even a few that weren’t. It was an exciting time, experiencing the range of venues and audiences throughout the region in which I first performed, the San Francisco Bay area. This heavy gigging was very instructive in showing me not only what were the best gigs to play, but also which were just pot-boilers to help keep in the game, and even more helpfully, which ones to avoid entirely.

I recommend the same approach for other musicians at a developing stage – trying out many different types of gig and learning how your scene operates first-hand. When the time comes that you do have to say ‘no’, then you’ll know why. Here are a few reasons why you might need pass on an opportunity.

Overcommitment / Double-Booking Obviously, if you’re already booked for the night, then you can’t say yes. Likewise, if it’s finals week at uni, or you’re out of the country, or the logistics just don’t add up, then you’ve got no choice. This is a shame, because sometimes the ones that get away end up being great nights for other bands. I’ve turned down a gig at one club because I was playing the other club down the street – and had to grin and bear it when

most of action that night was at the first place.

That’s just (bad) luck, and it doesn’t mean you can’t make the most of it for yourself.

There are exceptions to the rule, of course.

You could cancel an existing gig in favour of a better offer. I have a few rules about this.

First, only consider it if the new offer is really a terrific opportunity that will improve your band’s standing. Second, don’t agree if both gigs are the same type of venue, especially if they’re competing clubs. Third, never cancel if you’re headlining the first gig – that is like cutting the head off the snake. Finally, always find a replacement band that you know the first gig will welcome as a substitute.

want to say ‘no’ to offers of smaller gigs. There’s another issue alongside this, if you have a major gig coming up in one region, you can kill half the attendance by playing another gig, just before it, in a smaller house nearby. As great an act as you may be, why should people go see you twice the same week? But if the audience is completely different, like an all-ages gig, then go for it.

The reverse can also be true. I once turned down a chance to play the San Francisco Bay Area Music Awards (aka The Bammies), because I knew that the presenter Grace Slick would likely mock us for the entire evening, especially our psychedelic/goth lead singer. Sometimes the only way for an unknown band to successfully open for a huge act is to be just as professional and terrificsounding – otherwise, you can expect anything from a bored response to savage hostility, with no followers or credibility.

The Numbers Don’t Add Up When you first join a live scene, you’re in it for the experience and exposure. But if this is going to be a regular life path for you, then eventually you have to start making decisions about what gives you the most benefit for the least amount of cost. Otherwise, you’re going to be practically killing yourself all the time with nothing to show for it in the end, and that’s the surest road to burnout.

So you should be asking yourself, every time you’re offered an opportunity, “Is this worth it?”

Does the advantage repay your expenditure of time, effort, and artistic reputation? If you’re unknown, any type of exposure might be compensation enough. But once you’re very well known in the scene then exposure’s no longer enough. We’ll expand on this final topic in the next Building Blocks article, ‘Cost/Benefit Analyses’.

A motivated band and manager can sometimes overcome all near-fatal obstacles.

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All the same, even if you tick all the above boxes, I don’t recommend dumping one gig for another. You’re just creating a huge headache for everyone, from printing new posters to updating internet announcements, from word-of-mouth efforts to venue managers having to make excuses for you.

Incapacity / Emergencies This is another dead stop. If your lead singer has laryngitis, if your band van is impounded with all your stuff locked in it, or if your band is coming apart at the seams, of course you’ve got to bow out. There’s only so much you can do. One thing though, it’s a professional reality that show business is a series of hundreds, sometimes thousands of decisions and conditions for each performance. A motivated band and manager can sometimes overcome all near-fatal obstacles, like working in a substitute, borrowing equipment, or giving everyone the pep talk that turns the break up into a moment of renewed commitment.

The Wrong League Once your band has been around the block a few times, your audience will evolve in a way that decides which venues you’ll play. If you’re playing bigger and bigger stages you may well

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Thomas Goss is a producer, band coach, and composer/orchestrator with an international clientele that includes Billy Ocean, Melanie C, and Canadian jazz star Nikki Yanofsky. He is Education Composer-In-Residence for Orchestra Wellington, and his online orchestration course is available from macProVideo.

What Part of No Don’t You Understand?

Three-parts male, one part female, the enigmatically-named Miss June is equally equivocal in its sound. This great looking Auckland band have a new EP that includes short, sharp songs titled Student Loan, Average Joe and Matriarchy – which surely tells you something about where they are coming from. The songs themselves come from Annabel Liddell, but the band’s musical sensibility arrives from widely divergent places, as she tells Briar Lawry.

Photo: George Rump

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his interview is about Miss June. But it’s not with Miss June, per se. Annabel Liddell, frontwoman of the Auckland band, is quick to explain that.

“All the time, articles and people refer to me personally as ‘Miss June’.

But it’s the band’s name, not mine.”

Falsely assumed alter-egos swept away, Annabel talks about the past, present and future of Miss June – from opening for the likes of Shonen Knife and the Foo Fighters to feminist sensibilities, to a personal obsession with Kiwi-made music gear.

The band first played as Annabel Liddell, that first outing together coming out of a booking hiccup.

“My old band had a gig booked, but everyone else was away – but you’ve got to be reliable, you know? I didn’t want to pull out. So I picked out seven or so of my solo songs… and then thought, ‘Shit I don’t want to do this alone! Who do I know who can learn this in time?’”

The answer to herself was ‘jazz students’ and so she got in touch with a friend studying jazz at the University of Auckland (where Annabel is studying medicine), who got in touch with another friend, and they picked up another guy hanging around out in a corner. Call it serendipity – with a side of some serious musical sensibility – but the gang that Annabel gathered together for that first gig, are the same three guys who make up the band today. They learned those first songs in two days – recorded and then released a first single, Clyde the Turtle, on the third day.

James Park is the guitarist, Chris Marshall plays bass and Tom Leggett drums, with Annabel taking songwriting, vocals and additional guitar duties.

“It’s cool to see their growth – we all came from totally different backgrounds. Chris was really into Savages and bands like The Black Keys, while Tom’s really into RnB, and James was like some metal dude, ha ha! I have a folk background from years of my mother playing me Townes Van Zandt. ” Miss June take their collective influences – however varied they might be – and create a sound of their own.

“So many bands try to sound like The Dandy Warhols, or The Strokes or whatever – it’s hard to keep going with plans for just one sound.”

You can hear certain familiar shades, but pinning them down into one ‘sounds like so-and-so’ comparison or genre is indeed difficult.

“We do get pressed for a genre. To call it ‘punk’ seems disingenuous. Some of the songs are grungy and even at times quite poppy. I would say call it what you want.”

Annabel is quick to speak her mind when comparisons with other bands and artists are brought up. Regardless of the sound the band as a whole is making, she says the people they typically get compared to are female vocalists.

“I mean, anything I’m involved in is going to have a female voice,” she points out.

Entirely correct. To only compare Miss June to female-fronted bands would be overly shortsighted. Kathleen Hanna (Le

Miss June

Tigre, Bikini Kill) is, to be fair, an obvious point of comparison – Matriarchy screams riot grrrl in the best way – but there are decidedly Pixies-ish elements to some tracks, as well as influences from Brian Jonestown Massacre and their ilk. BJM are particularly worthy of mention, since Miss June owes its name to their song Miss June 75.

Miss June aren’t just having their sound compared to other big bands – they are playing alongside some huge international names, at the same time as building their own reputation. This year they have opened for Japanese pop punk legends Shonen Knife as well as Top 40 rockers Foo Fighters. Annabel is visibly excited when she talks about the former gig, describing herself as “the biggest Shonen Knife fan,” before breaking into I Am A Cat to illustrate her point.

“It’s one of my favourite songs ever.”

She describes the backstage experience while on tour with the Foos as quite strange.

“There are so many people involved – and they seemed so concerned about us. We were probably the most relaxed people in the stadium.”

The on-stage experience was unique in its own right, with a giant stage providing a new kind of setting.

“It was pretty insane. But we made sure we kept the set up tight, with the amps close and pointing in towards us so that we could actually hear each other – there’s always a pressure to spread out, but we didn’t have earpieces, so no way man!"

Straight after the Foo Fighters’ tour, Miss June road tripped down to Wellington to record a fresh new EP with good pal James Goldsmith, at Munki Studios. It was a four-day whirlwind, with Andrew Wilson (he of the recently dismembered Die! Die! Die! – also Annabel’s boyfriend) producing, alongside co-producers Annabel and James Park.

“We worked a lot on guitar tones and matching instruments. The whole idea of this EP is it’s a collection of us and what we’ve done. The songs needed to be recorded in a pocket of time.”

The release will be followed by a tour.

“We’re keeping everything pretty organic, with cool shows booked, awesome support acts and friends working on artwork… we just really want to put on fun shows.”

Safe to say that a fun show is definitely within Miss June’s repertoire.

If you haven’t listened to them yet, get on their Bandcamp, be won over by the combo of witty lyrics, impassioned vocals and highly skilled playing, and join the ranks of Dave Grohl, Naoko Yamano and this writer in becoming a Miss June fan.

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Head Like A Hole

They’re not (yet) talking about it being a quarter century thing, but the core members of Head Like A Hole are certainly seeing 2015 as a big year for the band. There’s the re-release (on vinyl) of their first album ‘13’ which, given a few inevitable delays, will fall almost on top of the release of their new sixth album, the gloriously-titled ‘Narcocorrido’.

Tour plans are still being finalised but on top of that, as Nigel Regan and Booga Beazley tell Michael Hollywood, comes the expected release of a documentary about the life/death/ life again of their influential band.

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meet Head Like A Hole vocalist Booga Beazley and fellow band original, songwriter/guitarist Nigel Regan, in the crowded car park of a suburban Kapiti Coast shopping mall. It’s a busy Saturday morning and the mobility scooter crews are out in full force. The sun is also out, so we all agree to relocate to a quieter outdoor spot for our chat. But Beazley is restless. And he’s thirsty, so first we’re off to Wendy’s for a milkshake.

Things don’t get much more rock’n roll than this.

Only they do, and it’s not long before Beazley and Regan are regaling me with hilarious stories of death metal festivals in Warsaw, of choreographed showcased corporate metal, of meeting heroes and of the delicious irony behind hoardes of stonewashed denim-clad bogans – “depressed Polish-looking ones” – chasing ex-drummer Mark Hamill’s autograph.

But they were with me to talk of none of those things, because Head Like A Hole have a brand new album out. ‘Narcocorrido’ is officially album number six, a fact that seems rather moot given the sheer volume of EP-length and non-album releases from the band over the years. It’s their second post-reunion album, after 2011’s ‘Blood Will Out’ took the reformed band into unprecedented Top 10 chart territory.

‘Narcocorrido’ has been self-released and crowd-funded.

“Kickstarter was an absolute necessity,” says Regan. “Without it there wouldn’t have been an album. We would have had to tour and save all of that money, and even then I don’t think we could have done it. Kickstarter paid for it. We got more than we asked for.”

“We have a distributor, it’s just that we don’t have a record label saying, ‘Here’s 80 grand, go and do a record’,” embellishes Beazley.“‘Blood Will Out’

cost almost 30 grand all up, so we had to do something [with Kickstarter].

We asked for 10 grand, and we got just over 11 – and it came in at around nine after they take some money and other costs out.”

The recording and production process was not without its issues, but both seem happy with the final result, Regan keen to acknowledge the role of return producer Andrew Buckton.

“The production was a combination of the band and Andrew. He had quite a bit of input – the things he came up with were usually pretty spot on. Andrew actually pulled out the guitar and played on some of the songs. He had really good ideas that actually fit.

“We went into [Buckton’s since-closed Auckland recording space] Studio 203, did all the guitars and vocals, and mixed it. But then he shut his studio down in the middle of it, so we ended up doing some tracks at Roundhead, and some at York Street. Then we did some guitars and vocals with Jol Mulholland in his room at The Lab.” While agreeing that working with Buckton made perfect sense, Beazley laments the lack of time spent together as a band.

“Andrew did ‘Blood Will Out’, so that’s why we went back to him. We did say to him that we didn’t want the album to be a copy of that, but we knew from the songs we’d written that it would be something different.

“Things have definitely changed, the songwriting skills have got better. There’s still room for a lot of improvement if we could spend more time together as a band – if we can do ‘Narcocorrido’ on the bare minimum of time as a band then what would happen if we threw ourselves at it?

“I had to do all the vocals in two days. And that bummed me out. I wanted to go back and do more. But because of time and going back and forth on the internet, all of the communication needed, it was too hard. It’s so frustrating. There will probably be a couple of songs on the album where the vocal levels could have been louder, and where we probably could have revisited that vocal and the mix, but it just came down to time.”

Photo: Alexander Hallag

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Despite various personnel changes and the passage of time since their â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Shitnoiseâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; cassette EP first brought the band to public attention back in 1991, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Blood Will Outâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; proved that the core sound of Head Like A Hole hadnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t moved moved that far, and more importantly that it still had potency. The band happily proclaimed it as as their best yet, and the album deservedly debuted Top 10 in July 2011, enjoying a nine-week run in the album chart. The follow up is a confidently diverse, battle-inspired romp.

Regan says they took a lot more risks musically, and wonders how fans will receive it. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I mean, one of the songs on there is called Mexico, and I wrote that about 15 years ago. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been trying to get the guys to do it forever. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve recorded it about five times before. Booga had always been a bit iffy about it, but we thought maybe we could give it a go this time. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a bit slower.â&#x20AC;?

Both men reflect on the perils of cleaning things up too much, and of the importance of leaving â&#x20AC;&#x153;some dirtâ&#x20AC;? in there. I ask whether all band members felt happy with their contribution to the end result, whether or not theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d all been equally involved, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Nah, I reckon Nigel did most of it,â&#x20AC;? Beazley is quick to quip. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I write the songs, but I only come up with the skeleton of it in most cases,â&#x20AC;? Regan responds. â&#x20AC;&#x153;With this album one of the best songs on it is Rise and Fall of the Sun, and Andrew Ashton wrote that. He was pissed at one of the practices and started playing this riff, and it was one of those riffs that only happen from band practices. I remember it was funny because it changed each time he showed it to me, but it had this groove and then next minute, bam! We had this whole song instantly.â&#x20AC;?

A regular Head Like A Hole party trick comes in the form of covers, and Beazley confirms that at some point theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re going to do a covers album. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We talked about that [for this album] but it was just the thing about time really. We hadnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t enough time to play as a band, we had just enough time to bash out the ideas for songs and get them sounding good for recording really.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Yeah, unfortunately we donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t usually end up with many more songs than we actually need,â&#x20AC;? Regan agrees. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We come up with the album, where a lot of bands will have maybe 15 or 16 songs recorded, and then trim it down for the album.â&#x20AC;?

Originally planned to come out on Black Friday, February 13, the band plan to tour the album shortly after its revised April release date, likely in May or June according to Beazley. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s gotta pay. Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve gotta break even. It can be a little bit frustrating sometimes when things donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t roll along as fast as you expect, because everyone has to plan their life around the tour dates. And when youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve got family itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s bloody hard just to drop everything and take off on tour.â&#x20AC;?

The conversation inevitably skirts around the periphery of Head Like A Holeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s indelible link with onetime label mates Shihad, the early years of touring nationally and across Europe, with Regan ultimately reflecting on the

respective paths taken by each band. â&#x20AC;&#x153;To a lot of average punters, when a band is overseas it normally equates to the impression theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re doing well. But then you watch the Shihad doco, and look at all the shit they went through at the time and you know, it didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t actually look like it was all that much fun.â&#x20AC;?

Beazley has some fun with the topic. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We quit in 2000 and came back in 2011, or 2010, and you know that 10 years was a great break and that did great things for us. And it probably could have done great things for Shihad too,â&#x20AC;? he laughs.

Apparently Head Like A Hole has its own movie-length doco in the process of being finished. A work-in-progress since the band reformed, it could be completed sometime in the next six months. Beazley is relatively coy about details but is clearly excited by the prospect.

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â&#x20AC;&#x153;It has a lot of clips of us years ago, and heaps of live stuff, some wicked photographs of people, interviews, and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s just a really great story of how we started and what we went through over the years.â&#x20AC;?

Theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re expecting it to be a big year for the band, with their first album â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;13â&#x20AC;&#x2122; also coming out on vinyl for the increasingly active International Record Store Day, April 18. Regan gets to have the final wordâ&#x20AC;Ś â&#x20AC;&#x153;The thing is, weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re still the same guys we were when we started the band. If someone had told me then that Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d be sitting here now [25 years later] talking about our sixth album I wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have believed it. So when you hear your song on the radio we still get that buzz.

Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s like, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Wow, people like our musicâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. At the end of the day we do it for ourselves, and if people like it, thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s great.â&#x20AC;?

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Rattle Clean Sweep Jazz Tui Awards

Industry The announcement of the Jazz Tui took place at the National Jazz Festival in Tauranga on Easter Monday, April 6, as part of the Jazz Village on the Creative Jazz Club Stage.

Congratulations to DOG on winning the 2015 Jazz Tui, for their self-titled album ‘Dog’ which has been described as being filled with innovative tracks and improvisation.

With the event falling close to NZM’s publishing deadline, amid a flurry of short weeks and long weekends, we decided to take a look at each of the three finalists – just to cover our bases you understand. Aleisha Ward very kindly undertook the task and attended the low key ceremony, the second (after the Folk Tui won by Great North) of the year’s NZ Music Awards’ presentations.

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his year’s Jazz Tui nominees were a diverse selection with wildly (wonderfully) differing approaches to jazz. Jonathan Crayford’s ‘Dark Light’, DOG’s ‘Dog’, and The Jac’s ‘Nerve’ are all amazing albums. Aside from that they do share another remarkable commonality – all three were recorded and released on the Victoria University Press-owned Rattle Jazz label.

The Rattle Jazz Series has been quietly making a name for itself since it was established in 2009.

The impetus for it was two-fold according to Rattle founder and regular recording engineer Steve Garden.

“Firstly, jazz activity in New Zealand had grown considerably in recent years, partly the result of strong tertiary education programmes, and more ensembles were avidly writing and performing their own compositions…

“Secondly, we wanted to establish a stream

within Rattle that gave specific focus to some of the best, most contemporary and most forwardthinking new music by writers and performers working within (and indeed stretching) jazz forms. We couldn’t be happier that all three finalists of the 2015 Tui Award are Rattle Jazz releases.”

Each of the nominees had their own reasons for recording with Rattle. For DOG all of the members recorded under Rattle previously, and for them it was a logical choice to record their debut album.

For Jonathan Crayford he particularly wanted this album to be recorded on a NZ label and was interested in the artistic freedom that Rattle allowed him. The Jac were also interested in the artistic freedom offered by Rattle.

I sat down with Jonathan Crayford; Kevin Field and Ron Samson of DOG, and Nick Tipping from The Jac to get some background and insight on each of the nominated albums.

Jonathan Crayford: ‘Dark Light’

Photo: Rita Novak

Pianist, Jonathan Crayford is one of the country’s most exciting musical exports. Spanning jazz, classical and world music genres, he divides his time between NZ, Australia, New York, and Europe. In 2009 he was in Paris researching the life and work of mathematician Évariste Galois.

“I wanted to write music that was based on mathematical principlesthat didn’t necessarily relate to his, because I didn’t fully understand his work… but, I had this rather romantic little ostinato thing in my head about Galois, that’s the oldest tune on the album [Galois’ Candle]. It’s a collection of permutations.”

The wider inspirations for ‘Dark Light’ arose from Crayford’s years in Europe.

“I spent a lot of time in old decayed houses or castles – Europe’s full of them, especially in the smaller cities. The sense of old you get in NZ is entirely different – it’s still young and growing. Whereas in Europe, it’s all made of stone, and that has a different feel, smell.

“Everything sort of had a stillness to it, and I think that’s what I was wanting in ‘Dark Light,’ a sort of metaphoric stillness overall. Light that is dark…in other words, hidden knowledge. And that’s the space, and the moody tones, the different qualities of light – and in part that’s due to Dan Weiss, cause he’s such a colourist on the drums. Ben [Street] has a sort of very level, stable, underpinning way of playing, and they’re totally responsive, but in a spacious and open and distilled way.”

In London after researching Galois, Crayford ran into fellow Kiwi musician Rory McCartney and they organised a jam session.

“I wanted to play new stuff. I had this other riff in my head that I’d been trying to make into a composition for years – which is this thing that ascends up in fourths and drops down in fifths – so essentially it’s constantly ascending and it’s got this neat little pattern. That’s the first track on the album [Skyscraper Scaffold]. So I quickly formulated that into something we could play and wrote a bunch of other stuff… just to make the day interesting.”

Soon after, he was listening to the material they’d recorded during the sessions, and realised that it was an album.

“So I booked the studio and called Ben [Street-bass] and Dan [Weiss-drums], and got myself to New York.”

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The Jac: ‘Nerve’ Formed in about 2011 by students, graduates, and staff from the NZ School of Music as a rehearsal band, The Jac is an eight-piece of four horns and four rhythm instruments. The members are Lex French (trumpet), Jake Baxendale (alto sax), Chris Buckland (tenor sax), Matthew Allison (trombone), Callum Allardice (guitar), Daniel Millward (piano), Nick Tipping (bass), and Shaun Anderson on drums. Originally inspired by the San Francisco Jazz Collective this small big band have expanded on that model with the musicians all bringing in new sounds and ideas. Their aim is to redefine jazz to both fans and detractors.

“We had a couple of people at two different gigs, came up to us and say, ‘I don’t really like jazz, but I really liked that!’ laughs Nick Tipping. “For me personally that’s one of the greatest things that you can hear – because I want people to like it and you don’t have to know anything about it like it – that’s a huge misconception about jazz. Redefining jazz for fans,I guess we’re exploring a new frontier that hasn’t recently been explored in this context, or in this country. There’s not many other San Francisco Jazz Collective’s out there.”

The compositions on ‘Nerve’ were written by Baxendale and Allardice with a big band approach in mind, and the arrangements are very specific with the composers leading their compositions, but the band is also quite collaborative.

“While you’d assume that a lot of it is being directed by the composer, and to a certain extent it is directed, there’s never a time when somebody else’s ideas aren’t appropriate, so the dynamic is just fantastic! Jake has emerged as de facto the leader of the group, but there’s no dominant personality, and everyone respects everyone else, so any idea is considered. Everyone’s so energised by the music that we all have ideas.

“In terms of the notes [composition] it’s not that collaborative, but in terms of the performance, and in terms of the expressive part of it, it really is – which is great and you don’t get that in a big band. All of us are really into reading music and there’s a lot of that obviously, and I think that’s one of the reason’s we like it so much. It’s because it’s always challenging. It can be frustrating but it never becomes a drag.”

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DOG: ‘Dog’ Described by some as Auckland’s jazz super-group, DOG was formed by University of Auckland School of Music jazz lecturers Kevin Field (piano), Olivier Holland (bass), Roger Manins (saxophone) and drummer Ron Samson in 2012.

Originally they were to be known as Dr Dog, but as Ron Samson explains,

that was ditched because another band called Dr Dog already had about 15 albums out. They had all worked together in various combinations and DOG initially formed for a Monday Night Jazz Series gig at the university, which led to a couple of gigs at the Creative Jazz Club, then to the album.

“We were all doing our own separate projects… and, it was like, ‘We should do something together, which is maybe different from all those projects,’” explains pianist Kevin Field.

The group is extremely collaborative, but with very different compositional styles. Wrangling these differences into a cohesive whole was a challenge, he continues.

“There was an element of writing with the band in mind, or if it was ideas that we already had, arranging it to fit the band.”

“I remember I wrote these tunes initially for percussion ensemble,” says Samson,“but I quickly turned into quartet for that first concert. I think that the variety gets absorbed because we’re all diverse and we’re able to sort of morph into different genres of music pretty easily.”

“A lot of those tunes we’d been playing for a while…like Evolution…

Roger’s [Manins] tune…we’d been playing that since the very first gig… and Oli’s [Holland] tune Dideldideldei,” Field adds. “A lot of them were just works in progress, and we just kept playing them.”

The recording process was also collaborative, with each member of the group leading the recording of their own compositions, and a lot of interaction and discussion about what worked best.

Reflecting on the nature of collaborative units Samson notes that they could all openly talk about what was wrong and what was right.

“We’re really lucky – it’s not necessarily going to work that way! Part of it is because we’re teachers and we’re used to explaining things in words, and also because we’re fairly patient with each other, in terms of letting things evolve to what they want to be, musically speaking.”

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Juvenile Music Hits Germany Over the past 15 months Auckland singer, songwriter and producer Donell Lewis has achieved considerable, unprecedented even, success. With no album â&#x20AC;&#x201C; just singles to date â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Donellâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s prodigious talent has brought him the opportunity to tour NZ, Australia and the Pacific over the past year. He has performed 90 shows and opened for major acts including Chingy, Bow Wow, Nelly/B.O.B and Lupe Fiasco, Boyz 2 Men, Mario, TPain and Ciara. He has featured on songs with a number of NZ artists such as Wrd Up, Derty Sesh, Deach, Sid Diamond, ChristopherKris and TY, along with Aussie artists and international superstar T-Boz from RnB Group TLC. America has always been in the pipeline and his team have previously spoken about touring Asia, but hadnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t figured on Europe. Well not until the success of Donellâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s single Show No Love, featuring Wrd Up and Fortafy. Released as part of a free download mix tape, (lustpowermixtape.com), the single was a big urban radio success across Australasia and beyond. The response was especially incredible from German DJs and attention turned to that 80M+ marketplace. A first tour in Germany fell through last November, but when in December Show No Love (plus two official remixes) continued to reach great heights Donnellâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s young manager Matt Pula, of Juvenile Music, linked up with 341 Music Group to initiate the first stages of an official â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Show No Love European Tourâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. Fellow label mate Wrd Up was added to the bill and 20 shows soon confirmed. Germany was to become the crewâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s home base for seven weeks over March and April. Pictured bottom right, Matt Pula kindly filed this report mid-tour.

Thursday March 12 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Amsterdam, Netherlands After 18,385 kms, 27 hours of flying and three different time zones, we finally touched down in Amsterdam on March 13. We then travelled by mini van another 188kms to where we would call home for the next seven weeks, Bad Bentheim â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a small town that lies on the borders of Rhine-Westphalia and Netherlands.

(It reminds me of Coronation Street. The streets are so narrow and the houses stacked close to each other.) One kilometre from our house was the Bentheim Castle, Bad Bentheimâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s premium historical attraction.

With some basic knowledge of Deutsch the transition into the German lifestyle was not as hard as we initially thought. The first stop in our new hometown was at the local K+K supermarket, an experience in itself.

Everything was in German and we could barely even understand the

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pictures on the packages. Luckily for us we were with our German tour manager who helped us with most of our purchases. It was 6.30pm and we were exhausted. It was time for us to relax and settle into our new home.

Day two arrived with a 5am wake up. We were still jet lagged and with our body clocks still in the NZ time zone we only had about four hours sleep. There were some things that we had to get used to, however everything would become normal after a week in Germany.

We were very fortunate in having a trustworthy and loyal tour manager in Florian Hazini from 341 Music Group. All expenses were paid for the entire seven weeks including accommodation (we stayed in a house the majority of the time and at hotels when on the road), and transport to and from shows was with our own van and driver.

We also had a personal barber who came to the house once a week to give us fresh cuts for our shows. This was something we could definitely get use to! On the other hand we were still battling with the cold snap that had arrived in time for our shows.

The venues were all accommodating with in-house sound engineers and DJs. Because of the capacity of most clubs (900+), sound checks were a critical part of the show. One was situated in a massive warehouse housing six clubs to cater for all genres. A max capacity of 7000 people and on the night of our show close to 5000 people entered Club Index. This was definitely one of our favourite shows as we performed on the same stage as O.T Genasis, Ciara, Snoop Dogg, and Souljah Boy. The clubs all had at least four bars, three dance floors, stages with different levels and 360 stages. V.I.P sections are next level with spa baths,

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personal barman and beds, all in a very secure and prominent area of the club.

Florian Hazini booked the shows with promoters in each city. Some were packed with 500+ people, while others only had 100 or so.

Overall it was a good balance between shows.

Friday March 13 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Club Privileg, Braunschweig We travelled six hours by van to our first show in Germany. The venue was nice with two levels and three massive screens on the back wall flashing â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Donell Lewis, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Show No Loveâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; feat. Wrd Upâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. The response from the crowd was good during the performance and many fans asked for autographs and pictures after the show. Club Privileg engaged about 120 people, which was a great number for our first show.

(Start small and gradually perform in front of more and more people as the tour continues.)

We took to the stage at 1.30am escorted by two security guards. As we performed on stage we had two back up dancers provided by the club and Donell performed all his hit singles with Wrd Up. Saturday March 14 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Stars Nightclub, Straubing The very next night was in Straubing, a long 6 hour 30min drive from our adopted hometown. We usually travel by plane to most of our gigs in Australia and NZ and this was something we were not used to. The turn out was great and we were pumped in delivering another great show.

At 2am, and with the audience in full mode, Donell Lewis came on stage singing Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s My. One minute into the performance and everything seemed fine, until the mics started distorting and then feedback. The bad got worse when Wrd Up entered the stage so we decided to end the show after the third song.

Not knowing what to expect, as this was the first time this had happened we decided to leave the club and head back to our accomm.

I guess at some stage we would have to experience this type of technical difficulty.

Apparently the in-house DJ had changed the settings to the mics, which caused the feedback. It was disappointing, more so for the fans, however we couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t perform with the poor sound quality.

Friday March 20 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Club Index, SchĂźttorf This was our third show and definitely our favourite to date. With a 360 stage and entering via a bridge this gave us confirmation that we were in a bigger country, performing at bigger shows. Club Index is one of six clubs in what was originally a big warehouse, situated on a side street in ShĂźttorf. Started in 1988 this club is well known to the German locals and also attracts many Dutch neighbours. Highlight of the night was the crowd singing the hook to Show No Love. (http://bit.ly/1Dxku8r) Saturday March 21â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Golden Room, MĂźnchen Munich was a seven hour drive away but we

were already used to spending a lot of time in our tour van. We arrived around 10pm and headed straight to soundcheck before having dinner. The show kicked off as normal at 2am, with the crowd definitely in full swing. It was the third birthday for the Golden Room so everyone was in celebration mode. The following morning we were up and on our way home. We didn’t get to see much of the city as we didn’t have enough time.

Tuesday March 24 – Nachtwerk, Solingen This, our fifth gig, was called ‘Schools Out’, a break up party for 16+ year olds, on a Tuesday. We travelled two hours to get to Solingen and before the show visited Barracuda Shisha bar where we had a ‘meet & greet’ with our fans and dinner. The Turkish food was delicious and the hospitality amazing. Our glasses kept filling up and we were ready to perform.

We didn’t know what to expect but to our surprise there were at least 80 teenagers waiting for us to perform, a good turn out especially for a Tuesday and a teenage club party. After the performance we decided to join some of the locals and partied until 7am.

Wednesday, March 25 – Nicki Minaj in Oberhausen With five shows under our belt it already was time for us to relax. Nicki Minaj was performing on her Pinkprint Tour, feat. Trey Songz two hours away and 24 hours before her show we decided to purchase tickets. It was our time to kick back and enjoy a show from the audience view.

König-Pilsener Arena in Oberhausen was full and the atmosphere was crazy, with screaming fans chanting ‘Nicki Minaj’ she slowly appeared from a rising platform to start her performance. The show was beyond amazing and something that we strive for – to play in an arena with the capacity of 10,000 screaming fans, full backline, DJ, lighting and all the technical requirements that go into making the show.

Friday March 27 – Club Neo, Osnabrück With DJ Veit & DJ Styl’em on the decks and 1300 people in attendance we were in for a good night, and only two hours from our hometown. We arrived at Club Neo about 1.30am and there was no parking less than 1km from the club. It was full to capacity.

The response and interaction from the crowd was remarkable and memorable. Before, during and after the show fans continued to show interest. Cameras with flashes were on all night. The DJs held it down the entire night with music that catered to us all. We even heard Let’s Do It Again from JBoog, a reggae artist we listen to at home in NZ. Tuesday March 31 – Bad Bentheim (home) Three weeks in and we have travelled over 5000kms and performed at six shows. We have seen some interesting parts of Germany and have enjoyed the food so far. It is now time to work on more hits and enjoy the remainder of our tour.

With 14 shows and five weeks still to go we are well equipped for the European lifestyle. Gigs still to come include Hannover, Dortmund, Köln, Bremen and Basel in Switzerland.

Overall Germany has and is the highlight of our careers thus far. As an independent artist with no major backing we are very blessed and fortunate to be given this incredible opportunity.

Whilst being in Germany we have also been in the studio and have collaborated with producers, DJs and local artists. We have worked on some exciting new projects that we will release over the next coming weeks.

This experience has been life changing and has put us in a place where we can now elevate ourselves to the next level musically.

It has also opened up international opportunities that we have worked hard towards since day #1.

We’ve already briefly discussed a return to Europe early next year. We thank Florian Hazini, 341 Music Group, A.F.O.G Entertainment and everyone else that has played an instrumental part on our tour. lllY>"39,SSLY3SOd 7SP9MMM9lJ`Oj`J3

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